Night in the Life
by DustyStars
Summary: AU. Joey invites everyone round for the evening, but things soon take a turn for the interesting. Contains vodka, motorbikes and... Tristan dancing on a table? Find out what happens when you get the YuGiOh gang together, mix with alcohol and leave them to their own devices for the night! Thief/Death/Puzzle/Puppy. COMPLETE.
1. Musings

**Why hello there, dear reader. Welcome to the humble beginnings of my first serious multi-chapter story. It's a big one, updates will be every other day (English time, sorry if it turns out different over the pond) as the story has already been written, just needs editing along the way. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in a review, I shall answer at the start of the next chapter. This will take about a month to be fully uploaded, hope you enjoy the ride! :D**

**Note: Everyone in this story is of legal drinking age, (In the UK that's 18). All characters are 18/19. In no way am I promoting underage drinking!**

**Warnings: Swearing, alcohol, fluff, OOC-ness, britishness, maybe a lime or two.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

**Right, now that's out of the way, onto the story!**

_Chapter 1- Musings_

It was just another average day in the city of Domino. The sun was shining through a veil of light clouds and everyone was going about their daily business as usual. It was just an average Friday.

Joey stared at the clock with a feigned look of interest on his face. It was the last class of the day and only a few more minutes to go before it was over. The trouble was, the more he looked at it, the slower the second hand seemed to go. It was as though it was an elaborate plot to annoy the hell out of him. Letting out a sigh, Joey stretched and yawned before resuming the look of interest he had long since perfected. His eyes glazed over and his attention wandered away from the teacher, and his thoughts turned to the amazing party he was planning for that night.

Everyone was going to be there; even the shy Ryou had accepted his invite. Joey had been quite surprised when the white haired Brit had come over to him earlier in the day and said he would have loved to come, as long as he could bring Bakura as well. As Joey was a firm believer in the statement 'the more the merrier' he had agreed- he got on alright with Bakura even if he could be a little rude at times and he was sure the rest of the group wouldn't mind.

Of course he had invited Yugi and Yami, they had both accepted, so had Tristan, Duke, Tea and Malik; even the Egyptian's housemate Marik was coming. Earlier that week, he had also invited Mai, and although she was unsure as to whether she could go, she had agreed to stop by if she could get there. As it was, Joey had managed to plan a night with all his close friends that he would make sure none of them forgot in a hurry.

The sound of freedom rang in the distance, snapping the blonde out of his trance so abruptly that his elbow slipped off the edge of his desk and he landed in an undignified heap on the floor.

"Ow…" he groaned as he picked himself up amid the giggles of his classmates. He proceeded to pack his books up into his bag before heading across the classroom towards the door, ignoring a group of girls who were sniggering at him in the corner. Damn he needed to stop spacing so hard. He had almost reached the door when:

"Katsuya!"

The blonde groaned before turning to the teacher. He was hoping she hadn't noticed his total lack of attention during the last two hours of her class, as he didn't think he could endure yet another detention this term, not when the only thing he wanted to do was go home and get ready for the evening, but as he sloped back to her desk, he realised he probably hadn't been very successful.

"Katsuya, were you paying any attention to me at all just then?" his teacher asked as he came to a stop in front of her, pursing her lips and glaring at him.

"Um, sure…" he said, running a hand through his blonde hair. "Course I was listening."

She merely looked at him over the top of her glasses as he stood there awkwardly. And then the rant started. Did he know he wouldn't get anywhere without working hard now? Not to mention no decent job in later life? Not forgetting the fact that he really was a bright boy and if only he worked a bit harder… And so it went on. Joey crossed his arms and pretended to be interested again. It was going to be a while before he got out of here…

xxx

"Yami!"

Yami Yugi turned his head to the source of the voice and was pleased to see Yugi making his way towards him through the crowd of students departing the school for the weekend. He pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning on and his face broke out in a smile as the smaller teen finally made it to where he was.

"Hello, Yugi. Good day I take it?" Yami asked him.

Yugi nodded brightly. "Have you got your things for tonight? You're still getting ready at mine aren't you?"

Yami indicated the carrier bag of clothes at his feet. "Everything's here. I even remembered to grab a little bottle of something on my way out as I figured you wouldn't have any to bring tonight what with your grandpa being home. It was pretty difficult trying to carry it round school without anyone noticing though," he smirked. "I'm pretty sure at least two teachers heard it move around but they didn't say anything of course."

"Well you're right that I won't have anything for Joeys," Yugi admitted. "But Yami… I've never actually had much alcohol before. I don't want to make an idiot of myself in front of everyone," he said, blushing slightly.

Yami merely chuckled. "You don't have to have any if you don't want to, no-one's going to force you to drink," he reassured the smaller boy.

"But I kind of want to…" Yugi said as he stared at the ground and shuffled his feet slightly.

Yami sighed. "Look, you're going to be with your friends tonight and I can imagine that quite a few of them might end up a little tipsy. Don't worry about it! I know I've made an idiot of myself a few times before and so have a couple of the others, Joey especially."

Yugi looked a little less concerned and resolved to at least try whatever Yami had bought, who knew, he might be able to let loose a little and then anything could happen.

"Shall we get going then?" Yami asked. "We don't want to get shouted at for loitering on school premises after all."

Yugi nodded as they set of walking and his amethyst eyes sparkled as he started talking about something that had happened in his psychology class. Apparently Malik had decided to play a prank on the teacher which had involved a water balloon, a pin and- worryingly- duct tape. Yami shook his head disbelievingly as he listened. He remembered when Malik had first moved here a few years ago from Egypt along with Marik, he had been a lot tamer and would never have dreamed of pranking a teacher. He guessed Marik was leading him astray.

"Malik's going to Joey's tonight isn't he?" Yugi asked as they neared his house.

"I believe so," Yami nodded. "He's bringing Marik too I think, should be an interesting night at least," he said, remembering the last time he had been in the same room as Malik's roommate and alcohol. The outcome had only been mildly dangerous, and Marik had argued that it was ok to do it again as the police hadn't even got involved. Apparently that was a regular thing with Marik and Yami had decided not to question it.

Yugi shuddered. "I can't say I'm too fond of Marik, but if Joey invited him I guess I have no right to question him…"

Yami chuckled. "You have nothing to fear, Yugi. Marik is fine once you get to know him- he isn't half as horrible as he makes out to be." At this Yami paused before deciding to press on. "If you like I'll stay with you for the whole night. He won't do anything if I'm there because he knows I can take him in a fight."

"I hope it doesn't come to that!" Yugi exclaimed, but smiled gratefully as they turned onto his street. "Thanks though, Yami. You're a really good friend."

The taller boy could only half return his smile. If only Yugi could see that he didn't want to be just a 'really good friend' then things would be a lot easier for him. He couldn't pinpoint the exact moment he had fallen for the boy, but Yugi remained oblivious to that fact and would probably continue to be so. There was something so innocent about him that made Yami want to just hold him close and protect him from all the evil in the world. But as it was he would just have to content himself with being a friend. For now.


	2. Teasing

**Here's chapter 2 guys! Please review as well as read, reviews make me happy and I have cookies for people who do it ****J**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot!**

_Chapter 2- Teasing_

Bakura looked at Ryou, unsure if he had heard him correctly.

"You want me to what?"

"It's just a little social meeting…"

So he had heard right. Didn't mean he was going to agree though.

"You know I'm not social."

"But Bakura…"

"No."

"Pleeeease?"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because I don't bloody want to, that's why."

"Oh come on, it's only for a few hours and I hardly ever ask you to do anything!"

"What about that time you asked me to catch that spider that was on your pillow?"

"You killed it!"

"Yeah?"

"I asked you to throw it out of the window…"

"So?"

"You didn't actually do what I asked you to do!"

"And I'm not going to now. I'm not going to that moron's house to pretend to be friendly and nice and everything because we both know I am neither of these things and I would much rather be right here playing video games or sleeping. Which is what I will do." With that Bakura flopped onto the sofa and proceeded to ignore Ryou. That is until he heard a small sniffle. Reflexively he turned to face Ryou- and instantly regretted it. The pale boy was gazing imploringly at him, tears filling his large brown eyes and looking for all the word like a kicked puppy.

Bakura turned away quickly but the damage was already done. He knew there was no way he would be able to say no now.

"B-Bakura… Please come. I even bought some a-alcohol for you to take so it w-wouldn't be too dull for you…" Ryou whimpered in a small voice, perfectly interspersed with little sniffs. Bakura instantly felt guilty for being mean when Ryou had clearly gone out of his way to make the whole thing bearable for him. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he could get drunk… He could feel his resolve wavering.

"Please?" Ryou's voice was barely above a whisper, and Bakura snapped.

"Ok, fine, just this once. Only because there's alcohol. And don't expect me to suddenly want to talk to people, I'm fine on the edge of the group like I usually am," he rushed out, wishing he was able to resist the cuteness that manifested itself in his housemate on an alarmingly regular basis. Said housemate let out a contented squeal as he ran over to the sofa and hugged Bakura.

"Ok, ok, go on, give me a couple of hours with my games before I subject myself to this. I need to blow something up," the taller boy said, awkwardly pushing Ryou away from him and reaching for the remote.

"Thanks 'Kura! I'm so happy you're going! And I haven't even told you who's going to be there yet!" Ryou jumped off the sofa and stood with his hands clasped together impatiently.

"You know I sometimes wish you were as shy at home as you are at school," Bakura huffed as he began to set up the console. Then he paused. "Wait, who's going?"

"You'll never guess!"

"Which is precisely why I'm bloody asking you," Bakura shook his head. Ryou was a little dense sometimes.

"Malik!" Ryou sang as he skipped off to his room. Bakura froze. Oh this was going to be one hell of an evening. No matter how many times he told himself that he had no feelings towards the Egyptian the fact remained that Malik was one of the only people in the world Bakura could hold a conversation with without wanting to murder them after half a minute. He attempted to treat Malik as impassively as the rest of them but it was very difficult when they spent so much time together during school and sometimes afterwards. Bakura had about had enough of being careful and was ready to throw caution to the winds as far as the Egyptian was concerned. Well, as soon as he was finished playing his video game anyway.

xxx

"Malik, how do you even stay out of detention? I swear to Ra you're the only one who could get away with assaulting a teacher with a water balloon and not face any consequences- apart from myself of course."

The blonde boy in question simply smirked as he and Marik walked through the backstreets towards their apartment.

"Would you seriously put this face in detention?" he laughed. "Besides, she didn't actually know it was me. I can be discrete you know."

Marik let out what could only be described as a cackle. "Malik, you are the last person on earth who I would call 'discrete'. You literally scream gay what with your lilac fetish and your jewellery obsession. And I've seen the way you look at B-"

"Don't start this again, I'm not gay, Marik!" Malik protested loudly. "The jewellery is cultural and I do not have a frigging lilac fetish! I just happen to like the colour. And shut up, you're the gay one here."

Marik let out an exasperated sigh. "At least I admit it. And if anyone has anything to say against it they don't dare make it known in case I find out they have a problem with me." He smiled crazily. "Well there was that one time… Anyway, you're effectively hiding in a transparent closet you're so effeminate."

They had had this argument many times before, so often that it had now lost most of his meaning: Malik refused to admit he was gay even though it was blindingly obvious to pretty much everyone else in the school. It wasn't just the way he wore his clothes or spent much of his time worrying about his hair and eyeliner, no, it was also to do with the fact he had never once had a date with a girl or shown any inclination towards finding any of them remotely attractive.

The only person he had shown any sort of attraction to was Bakura, even though the grumpy albino hadn't reciprocated it and Malik himself probably wasn't aware he was doing it. In fact they were both so subtle about it that had Marik not known Malik as well as he did it would probably have escaped his notice. But no, the stubborn Egyptian insisted on his straightness and refused to even consider otherwise. It was starting to piss Marik off.

Three times this year various people had come up to him asking if he and his housemate were together and three times he had had to beat some sense into them and accidentally hospitalised them. If only Malik admitted he had a little thing for his white haired friend then Marik could calmly get on with his life any no-one would get hurt.

"Oh bugger off, Marik. I can't be bothered to argue again," Malik said grumpily as they neared their apartment.

"You have been spending way too much time around Bakura, you know that?" the taller Egyptian stated, picking up on the British insult Malik had uttered.

"So what if I have?" the blonde said defensively. "Is there a problem with that?"

Marik held his hands up in mock surrender. "No, just making conversation," he said.

"Well don't."

"Someone's touchy."

Malik ignored him.

They arrived at their apartment block and went inside. As they climbed the four flights of stairs to their floor Marik remembered something.

"It's that thing at Joey's tonight isn't it?"

Malik huffed. "If by 'that thing' you mean a nice evening with our group of friends that will probably involve someone making an idiot of themselves under the influence of alcohol and you not calling me gay for the duration of the evening then yes, it is that thing at Joey's tonight."

"You do realise it will probably be you making a prat of yourself," Marik pointed out helpfully as they entered their apartment.

The shorter Egyptian growled as he threw his keys onto the table dramatically before turning and saying, "If it stops you from seeming so bloody annoying then I probably will. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to take a shower." He stomped off down the hall towards the bathroom.

"And that was another thing Bakura would say!" Marik shouted after him.

Malik didn't stop walking, but simply flipped him off without looking at him. Marik chuckled and took that as his cue to go and search their drinks cabinet for the evening. He would get Malik to admit he wasn't as straight as he proclaimed one way or another. Although he had a pretty good idea how to do it already.


	3. Unexpected

**Next chapter is here for you lovely people. Cookie to my reviewer! Please review, it would make my day and I still have a plate of cookies. I'm thinking of making cupcakes too :P**

**Disclaimer: Nothing but the plot is owned by me.**

_Chapter 3- Unexpected_

'Man, doesn't she have anything better to do with her time?' Joey wondered as he half jogged, half ran through Domino towards his house. He had just spent the last hour being lectured by his teacher before being made to sit and redo the work she had set in class. When he had complained that he needed to get home she had simply raised an eyebrow and opened a bag of pretzels, before telling him it was his own fault he was there and she was simply doing her own job.

He had finally been let out only to find he had missed his bus and the next one wasn't for an hour, which wouldn't leave him enough time to prepare for the party and besides, he hated waiting. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and struggled to pull it out as he did his awkward half-run past Kaiba Corp's head office. The caller ID flashed up as Mai.

"Hello?" he said, slightly out of breath.

"Joey?" Mai's voice came from the other end. "Who's chasing you?"

"Nobody, I missed my damn bus and I need to get home," Joey gasped as he accidentally ran into someone. "Shit, sorry!" he exclaimed as the person stumbled. He looked up to see Seto Kaiba himself standing there, glaring down at him.

"Why are you assaulting me, Katsuya?" Kaiba asked in a disdainful tone.

"Sorry!" Joey said again as he sidestepped the CEO and continued on his way, trying to conceal the faint blush on his face. He wished he had run into his secret crush when he looked a little more presentable. He was pretty sure his hair was in an ungodly state and his face was definitely an unattractive red colour. Kaiba simply looked at him before muttering something and turning away. Unable to give it a second thought Joey picked up his pace again and put his phone to his ear.

"Sorry Mai, ran into Kaiba, literally. What's up?"

He heard Mai chuckle slightly on the other end before she said, "I'm sorry hun, but I can't make it tonight, I'm currently stuck on the other side of Domino with a couple of morons who want to strike up a business partnership. It ain't gonna happen of course, but I can't seem to get rid of them. I'll see if I can get over later but you guys might have already finished up and passed out by the time I get there."

Joey listened as he dodged traffic and didn't reply until he was safely on pavement again. Not far now. "Ok, Mai, sorry to hear that, I was looking forward to seeing you again. It's been a while hasn't it?"

"Yeah it has. But these two are working for Pegasus so it isn't as easy as just getting rid of them."

"Fair enough. Can't have it all can you?"

He heard Mai laugh. "Let's agree to disagree on that one, hun. Anyway I have to go, the idiots are coming back. I hope you have a good evening, Joey. Have a drink for me," Mai said, sounding resigned to her fate.

"Ok, hopefully you can make it to the next one, see ya!" Joey said as his home came into sight finally.

"Bye, Joey," Mai said before cutting the line. Joey turned his phone to 'ring' instead of 'vibrate' and pocketed it as he made his way up the steps to the front door. It was a shame Mai wouldn't be coming but he was sure the others would provide more than enough entertainment for the night. Smiling he unlocked the door of his currently empty house and went inside. He had about an hour before his guests showed up and in that time he needed to tidy the house and make himself look slightly better than he did now.

xxx

'Ding Dong.'

Joey swore. Someone was early and he hadn't finished setting everything up in the living room yet. He had just moved the TV into a corner where it was less likely to get damaged later and he had been about to get his alcohol stash out when the doorbell rang.

He ran down the hallway and unlocked the door to see who had interrupted his preparations- and his jaw dropped. Standing there was none other than Kaiba. He was dressed quite casually- for Kaiba anyway- wearing a pale blue button down shirt and dark trousers. He couldn't have looked any more different from how he was less than an hour ago. Joey had to admit he looked pretty damn good. And he had no idea what the hell he was doing there.

"Um…" he said brilliantly. "Hi?"

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Don't look so shocked, Katsuya. I'm only here because you dropped your wallet when you so gracefully assaulted me earlier," he stated, tone dripping with sarcasm. "I only came to give it you back because I happened to be passing this way on my way home."

Joey regained his composure. "So if you hadn't been passing you would have just kept it?"

"Oh I'm sure I would have arranged someone else to bring it back at some point. Though I bet you didn't even realise it was missing," the brunette smirked.

"Hey!" Joey exclaimed. He didn't really have a comeback for that as he really hadn't realised it was missing. And the CEO was just stood on his doorstep with a smirk just begging to be wiped off his smug face. "Wait, how do you know where I live?"

Kaiba simply rolled his eyes. "I'm Seto Kaiba, I know everything," he stated, as though this much was obvious.

"Uh," Joey said, once again displaying his excellent command of the English language. "Can I have it back then?

"Perhaps," the taller boy replied. "Depends what you'll give me in return."

Joey's mouth dropped open again.

"What?" Kaiba shrugged. "I'm a businessman remember? I don't do things for free."

"Uh… I don't really have anything you would want," the blonde muttered, looking at the floor.

"Well…" the brunette started, but he was interrupted by a loud ringing coming from Joeys' pocket.

_~'I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie wooooorld!'~ _

Joeys face turned redder than a tomato as he frantically dug into his pocket to locate his phone. "Shit, one sec, Tristan must have changed my ringtone as a prank," he garbled as Kaiba looked like he was trying to hold in a laugh. The unfortunate blonde finally grabbed his phone and, blushing madly, accepted the call and held the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

There was an interesting giggling noise coming from the other end of the line, accompanied by faint clinking and a hiccup. "Hello? Tristan?" Joey said again, feeling like an idiot. He was about to hang up when someone spoke.

"Joey? Is that *hic* you?" the voice said, and Joey identified it as Duke's.

"Duke? What are you doing? And why do I get the feeling you're totally smashed?" Kaiba raised an eyebrow at this and casually leaned on the doorframe.

"It was his idea!" Duke proclaimed. "It was his fault and now I feel funny. We're near that little park we go to *hic* sometimes because Tristan opened the vodka and said it was a good idea to pre-drink. Are we still ok to *hic* come over?" There was faint giggling in the background and what sounded like Tristan saying, 'I can fly, Duke, I'm a beautiful bird!'

Joey resisted the urge to facepalm and instead said, "The others aren't here yet but it would probably be a good idea to get you two off the streets before you accidentally set fire to something. Get over here now and we'll take things from there. "

There was a noise of agreement from Duke before he hung up. Joey put his phone away before turning to Kaiba, hoping he hadn't heard what was going on down the other end of the line. The brunette's face told him that he had.

"Really Katsuya, friends with people who are drunk before 7pm, that is something."

Joey fumed. "That's enough Kaiba, either give me my wallet back and leave before they get here or stay and help me sort them out." Wait, what had he just said?

Kaiba smiled slightly. "Is that your way of asking me to join you and your friends tonight, Katsuya? You could just have said, you know."

Joey turned even redder that he thought was possible- he now resembled a beetroot with hair. Not trusting his voice, he simply shrugged and held the door open wider to allow the taller boy to enter. Kaiba turned to the limo that was waiting for him and jerked his head to signal that it was to leave. As it drove away the CEO entered the house and said, "If they're sick, I'm not going near it."


	4. Façade

**This chapter is slightly longer and when things start to get interesting. Reviews are love!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.**

_Chapter 4- Façade_

"Come on, Bakura, enough blowing things up already!" Ryou's voice was lost in the high pitched scream that came from the television as a woman died horrifically on the screen. "You've been on that for two hours now and we need to leave to get to Joey's now or we'll be late!"

"Let me just finish this level, I'm nearly at the- OH BUGGER!" A zombie had appeared out of nowhere and wiped out his health points. Bakura continued his cursing and made to return to the last save point when Ryou switched the console off. "Noooooo!" Bakura howled. "Why would you do that?"

The smaller boy sighed before glaring pointedly at the clock and back to Bakura, who huffed.

"Ok, fine, let me just get changed and we'll go. Though I blame my losing on you distracting me by talking," he said as he stomped off towards his room. Bakura took his video games very seriously.

Ryou sent Joey a quick text saying they would be a little bit late before heading through to their kitchen and opening one of the cupboards. After moving a few jars and bottles he revealed the little stash of alcohol he had saved specifically for this occasion. He emptied the secret hideaway and carefully replaced the jars before straightening up with his collection. Whilst he was hunting around for a bag to put them in Bakura sauntered into the kitchen and casually leaned on the door frame tapping his foot.

"We're going to be late if you don't hurry up you know," he smirked as he watched the smaller boy move around the kitchen.

"Oh sod off, Bakura," Ryou remarked without pausing in his search.

Bakura simply chuckled and went to fetch his coat from the hall. A moment later he was joined by Ryou, who was brandishing a bag filled with bottles which he shoved at his housemate.

"You can carry them; they'll look more natural coming from you."

"What are you trying to say?" Bakura replied pretending to be offended, but he took the bag anyway. It was true that Ryou kept up a shy, innocent act around their friendship group at all times and he was unwilling to break it, though Ra knew why he didn't let his true personality through. For all intents and purposes he was just a shy little British boy who tried to stay out of trouble, when in actuality he had a hyper (and sometimes annoying) streak that only showed itself when he was at home.

Bakura continued to think about Ryou's odd behaviour as they finally headed out towards Joey's. He had spent a long time trying to fathom his friend's reasons for being so shy, the only thing he had come up with was that he liked someone in the group and was too afraid to show his true self to them. Bakura knew he himself often did that when he was with others; his cold exterior hid a more sensitive side that not even Ryou knew the full extent of. But Bakura had his reasons… That damn Egyptian…

The taller boy continued to be lost in his thoughts for most of the journey and his housemate left him to it, for he knew better than to interrupt his Bakura's reverie. It was only as they turned onto Joey's street that Ryou finally spoke.

"Ok, I think tonight might be the time to admit it, you know," he said carefully, hoping not to provoke a reaction from his friend. Bakura's head shot up.

"Admit what?"

Ryou looked at the floor, blushing slightly. Nevertheless, he continued. "You know… Admit to Malik that you… um…" He paused as he heard a quiet chuckle from Bakura.

"Not much gets past you does it?" he murmured. "You know, maybe I will. Maybe tonight's the night." The smaller boy looked rather surprised at his answer- he had expected anger and possible outright denial- but Ryou had decided enough was enough. Someone needed to do something about those two before either of them did something stupid like end up in prison and then they'd never get together.

"I have a condition though," Bakura continued, and Ryou's heart sank. Bakura's 'conditions' usually meant him having to do something either incredibly stupid or cripplingly embarrassing.

"I want you to show the group who you really are, I want you to loosen up and not give a damn what any of them think of you. Even if it's just for tonight I want you to act like you do at home."

Ryou was shocked. He had never heard Bakura act so… Kind wasn't the word, but it was pretty damn close. He took a moment to think it through before deciding it wasn't such a bad idea after all. He was willing to shatter his innocent façade if it meant Bakura would stop pining after Malik. He slowly nodded in agreement just said, "Ok."

Nothing more was said as they made their way up to the door for the Katsuya household. Ryou quickly checked his watch and groaned.

"You do realise you made us twenty minutes late, right?" he reprimanded. "Next time I'll take the console away altogether and you'll have to get ready on time."

"What makes you think there'll be a next time?" Bakura smirked. "I'm only here because you dragged me along."

Ryou huffed irritably. "We both know that's not true, so don't act like you're all cold and stuff, I know there's more to you than that. Maybe I'm not the only one that needs to change his behaviour."

Bakura merely shrugged as the smaller teen rang the doorbell and stepped back. A few seconds later it was opened by Joey, who grinned at them and said, "Finally, we were wondering when you two were going to show up, everyone else is here, just follow the music!" He stood back to let the two white haired teens into his house. As Bakura entered he passed the blonde the bag of bottles and winked. Joey seemed slightly taken aback at this but didn't question it, opting instead to shut the door and usher them down the hall towards the living room.

As the two white haired teens entered they were greeted by a chorus of welcomes from their friends. Malik waved to them from the end of a three-seater sofa where he was holding a glass of something dark and fizzy; Marik was sat on the other end of the sofa towards the edge of the room with a large bottle of what looked like neat vodka, which he held up in mock salute as they entered.

The other sofa in the room held what appeared to be two passed out teenagers that Ryou and Bakura eventually identified as Tristan and Duke: Tristan was sprawled out horizontally taking up all the space with his head resting on Duke's lap. They both looked a little worse for wear. In the armchair next to them, to their great surprise, sat the CEO of Kaiba Corporation, who seemed to actually be there voluntarily and was drinking from a can of some sorts. He nodded slightly at them before turning back to his drink. Joey, who had entered the room after them, made his way over to Kaiba and sat down at the foot of his chair like a well-trained dog. Bakura had to resist a smirk at that- he had observed Joey for quite a while and had figured out his crush probably before the blonde himself.

"Make yourself at home guys!" Joey had to raise his voice to be heard over the music, which was loud but not unbearably so. The speakers were currently blasting out some chart song neither white haired boy had heard before.

There were a couple of other comfy chairs around the room, so Bakura opted to take the one next to the passed out Tristan and Duke- purely because there were more bottles of various alcoholic drinks around there. He reached for the nearest bottle and took a long drink before realising it was tequila and nearly choked. Ryou, after rolling his eyes slightly, decided to go and talk to Malik, so settled himself between the two Egyptian boys on the other side of the room.

"Hey, Ryou, how's it going?" Malik asked once Ryou was settled.

"Good thanks," Ryou smiled. "Took me a while to get my idiotic housemate off his arse and out of the door but we made it. Where's Tea?"

"She couldn't make it- had emergency dance class or something. And that's such a British thing to say, you know," Malik replied with a laugh. "Bakura says it all the time; he hates it when I make fun of him for it though. Well he hates it when I do a lot of things but that's just 'Kura you know?" he said happily, taking another gulp from his drink.

Ryou raised an eyebrow at this. "Does Bakura let you call him that?" he questioned.

"Course, why wouldn't he?" Malik said. "It's been his nickname for a while now, even though it's more for convenience than anything else. Why do you ask?"

The smaller boy laughed. "Because once I called him that and he threatened to claw my eyes out if I said it again. I'm very surprised he lets you say that actually. He isn't one for nicknames or general cute things really."

Malik took a moment to digest this information before looking across the room to where Bakura had found some other bottle and was drinking deeply from it. "That's odd." He stated. "I wonder…"

They were interrupted by a loud laugh from Marik who had been listening to their conversation with great interest.

"What's so funny?" Malik asked irritably, tearing his eyes from Bakura.

"You!" Marik laughed while wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. Ryou noted his half empty bottle and figured he was slightly tipsy.

"What about me?" the smaller Egyptian demanded.

"You're totally in a transparent closet." Marik said, going from joking to serious in the space of a second in traditional Marik style. "You're totally hot for that guy and you won't even admit it to yourself."

"Marik, I. Am. Not. Gay." Malik said through gritted teeth. "I thought we agreed you wouldn't bring that up tonight."

"I don't actually recall-" Marik started, but he was cut off by Ryou.

"There's nothing wrong with being gay, Malik," the brown eyed boy said earnestly. "And you should never lie to yourself either, it will never end well."

"Ra, not you too!" Malik threw his hands in the air dramatically- spilling a bit of his drink in the process- before getting up and flouncing out of the room.

"What did I do?" Ryou said in a small voice, looking as though he was about to cry. Marik awkwardly put an arm around him, making the smaller boy blush furiously by doing so.

"Nothing, just Malik being Malik. He's only honest when he's drunk and has no control over what he's saying, and now that's probably not going to happen tonight because he'll be on his guard. He really does like Bakura you know," he said, looking down at Ryou with purple eyes.

"Really? Well Bakura likes him too but he'll never admit it."

They both looked over to Ryou's flatmate, who had finished yet another bottle and was starting on a six pack of beer. Ryou sighed.

"I don't think it'll take long before Bakura is drunk, now we need to find a way to get Malik in the same state as him, then maybe something will happen," Ryou mused.

Marik took another swig of his vodka before a brilliant idea came to him. "Ryou, I believe I have a plan."


	5. Shots

**Viva la shipping! **

**Disclaimer: Nope, sill don't own anything but the plot.**

_Chapter 5- Shots_

"Seto, have you seen Yami and Yugi in a while?" Joey asked from his spot on the floor.

The CEO looked surprised at the use of his first name but shook it off before replying. "No, I didn't think it was my responsibility to look after those two as well," he said with a slight smirk.

He was, of course, referring to Duke and Tristan, who had made it to Joey's house about an hour ago barely able to stand and had promptly passed out having consumed what looked to be several cans of lager and half a bottle of vodka between them. Honestly, Joey was amazed Duke had worked out how to use the phone. Kaiba had actually been a great help; he had helped carry the boys into the living room and also finished setting everything up for when the others arrived. Once they had finished everything Kaiba had made Joey promise that he would stay by his side so he wouldn't have to interact with the rest of the group as much, and the blonde had willingly agreed, though interested as to why the CEO would say such a thing.

This is how they came to be sat together talking as though they were old friends instead of acquaintances that weren't really that fond of each other. Admittedly that might have been partly due to the fact that Joey was on his third can and Seto had sampled most of Joey's alcohol collection but for all intents and purposes they were being quite friendly.

Joey was about to get up and look for Yami and Yugi when the pair entered from the kitchen, Yami supporting his shorter friend who was giggling weakly.

"What happened to him?" Joey asked suspiciously, looking at Yami.

"He wanted to try some shots," Yami explained as he led Yugi over to a vacant seat. "After having one he decided he rather liked them: I turned around for one second and when I looked back he was drinking straight from the bottle." He attempted to sit Yugi in the chair, but the smaller boy protested loudly, saying "No Yami dear, I want to sit on you!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes before letting out what could have been a giggle- if Kaiba even did anything as out of control as giggling anyway. Marik and Ryou had paused their conversation to watch the scene with interest, and even Bakura- who was swaying slightly- had momentarily stopped his quest to destroy his liver and was attempting to focus on the two spiky haired teens. It was at this moment the current music track finished and in the awkward few seconds of silence that followed Joey stage whispered, "You'd better let him sit on you, Yami."

Yami blushed a deep red as the next music track started up and people began to return to their conversations. He looked down at Yugi, who resembled a baby panda that had just been kicked, before relenting and pulling the boy onto his lap.

"Yay!" cried Yugi, bouncing up and down.

Yami's thoughts immediately went into the gutter and he went even redder as he tried to block them out. It didn't help when Yugi put his arms around him and proceeded to hug him tightly, whispering, "Thank you for the drink, Yami, it was very nice." He then went back to bouncing up and down like a hyperactive child as the taller teen attempted to grin and bear it. He was so close to grabbing Yugi and dragging him off somewhere private that it was almost unbearable.

He was saved somewhat by the reappearance of Malik, who had got rid of his drink somewhere and was now sashaying (with alarming campness) back over to the sofa where Ryou and Marik were sat closely together. He raised an eyebrow at the position the two were in before saying, "Have you two finished being arseholes yet?"

The two boys attempted to keep straight faces (Malik was being British _again_), while nodding. This seemed to satisfy the Egyptian a little, as he seated himself again and turned to his conversation partners. Marik and Ryou exchanged a look before Ryou said, "Malik, I have an amazing idea."

"What? Malik said suspiciously, looking from one teen to the other.

"You know how I don't often drink much…" Ryou started. "Well, I'd quite like to see how much I can hold, do you fancy doing a drinking game with me?"

"What sort of drinking game?" the purple eyed boy replied.

"You know, just see how much you can take before you can't stand anymore and concede defeat," Ryou said, the picture of innocence. Marik smirked. His plan seemed to be going well.

Malik's eyes seemed to sparkle. He loved a good challenge, and this one at least would get him away from the constant teasing of his housemate. Plus he figured Ryou would be pretty easy to beat.

"You're on, Ry, but be warned, I won't go easy on you," he declared. "Are we doing shots?"

Ryou shrugged. "Might as well," he said. "It's as good as any."

Marik laughed as he finished his bottle. "Alright, it is on!" He raised his voice so he could be heard over the music. "Hey guys! Ryou and Malik are gonna do a drinking game. I'm taking bets on who'll win if you wanna gamble!"

Ryou blushed slightly as all eyes in the room turned to him, before remembering he was supposed to be being more like he was at home and just accepted it. He caught Bakura's eye, who winked at him, and hoped this game would be worth it. After all, he was only doing it for Bakura and Malik anyway.

Everyone seemed very enthused with the game, other than Kaiba of course: he remained impassive as he downed his fourth bottle of cider. There was a rush to get shot glasses and bottles, and a couple of minutes later people were pouring shots of whatever they could find and laying them on the table in the middle of the room. The clinking of bottles finally roused Tristan and Duke, who sat up looking rather disorientated and confused.

"Hey, what's going on guys?" Duke asked, trying to process the people moving around.

Yami paused in the act of grabbing Bakura's left over tequila to say, "Ryou and Malik are having a drinking game to see who can hold more. Marik is over there taking bets if you want to try your luck."

Duke and Tristan looked at each other before pulling themselves up and wobbling slightly over to where Marik was making a deal with Joey.

"So that's a fiver on Malik, pleasure doing business with you," he smirked as Joey turned around and saw the pair.

"Hey guys! Welcome back to the land of the mostly-sober-probably-not-really-by-now people!" he exclaimed. "Only rule is don't be sick inside, have a good night!" He ran off towards the kitchen.

Tristan raised an eyebrow. "At least we're not the only people who are going to pass out tonight, eh Duke?" he remarked, before laying a tenner on Ryou to win.


	6. Drink

**This is a direct continuation of the last chapter which I decided to split into two. Reviews would be greatly appreciated!**

**Disclaimer: You know I don't own it. Sadly.**

_Chapter 6- Drink_

Ryou and Malik were looking slightly stunned at the sheer number of shot glasses that were being filled. Neither of them had expected it to be a group spectacle, but neither were really complaining either. Ryou was partaking only to get Malik drunk enough to admit things later and Malik himself… Malik just wanted to get away from the constant bitching of his housemate.

"Good luck, Ry!" Yugi slurred slightly as he passed on his way to Marik's betting zone. "Show Malik who's boss!"

"Hey!" Malik called indignantly. "Who helps you with your history homework?" Yugi had already wobbled out of earshot however, leaving Malik to glare at Ryou instead.

"What?" Ryou shrugged. "I help him with the rest of his subjects."

Malik sighed. It was at this moment that a very drunk Bakura decided to meander over to them.

"Hello!" he said as he plopped down on the floor between them in a very un-Bakura-like fashion.

"Bakura, how much have you had? We've only been here about half an hour," Ryou reprimanded.

"You don't own me!" Bakura said playfully before turning to Malik. "Good luck my Egyptian. I'm sure you can beat him. And then you'll be as drunk as me!" He then attempted to get up, but upon realising it was futile, settled for dragging himself towards the sofa and leaning against it.

Malik had blushed violently when Bakura had said 'My Egyptian' and was doing a pretty poor job of hiding it. Luckily for him, however, Joey had come back from the kitchen and declared that there were enough shots for a decent game. Everyone gathered round on the floor, even Kaiba moved from his armchair to join the others. Marik moved so he was close to Ryou and Yugi once again sat on a flustered Yami.

"Right, when I say go, you have to down as many shots as you can without stopping until one of you can't go anymore. The winner will get…" Joey paused. "I dunno, whatever the hell you guys want! Ready? Go!"

The first shot Ryou downed burned his throat and he had to force himself to choke it down. By the time he had stopped coughing Malik was already on his second shot and seemed to be handling it very well. The white haired boy knew he was going to regret this later but reached for another glass anyway.

After his eleventh (twelfth?) shot Ryou was starting to feel a very strange hazy feeling descending on his brain and realised he was way past the point of no return. He looked across to where Malik was downing his sixteenth glass and decided that they had both had enough. He held up his hand and waved it weakly to show he had finished before giggling weakly and falling sideways into Marik's lap.

Malik, meanwhile, continued to alternate between vodka shots and sour cherry shots before the cheering in the room made him pause. He looked across the table to see his opponent collapsed in Marik's lap and realised he had won.

"Congrats Mal!" Duke shouted next to him. "I knew you could do it!"

Malik stood up and swayed slightly as he did so. "Thank you very much lovely people, I am now going to sit on the sofa," he proclaimed and began to make the perilous journey towards said sofa.

"He's very drunk isn't he, Yami?" Yugi whispered loudly to his friend. "Maybe you should get like that. You're the only one who's not had anything yet."

Yami looked around the room. It was true that most of the group had already consumed an ungodly amount of spirits: Marik had dumped Ryou on the floor, grabbed another bottle from nowhere and started dancing to the music- which happened to be 'Tik Tok' by Ke$ha unfortunately- Tristan and Duke were having a drunk thumb war and Joey was trying to hug Kaiba. Ryou seemed to be trying to get up from where Marik had dumped him to dance and was failing miserably, eventually opting to remain with the side of his face pressed on the carpet whilst giggling weakly.

"Actually little one, I believe that Seto is still quite sober too," Yami said, gesturing towards the CEO who was now awkwardly being hugged by a hyperactive blonde.

"So he is. How boring," Yugi remarked, but left it at that for a while.

Half an hour later however, after several dance offs between Marik and the rest of the room, Yugi started again.

"Are you drunk yet, Yami? I think Kaiba may be getting there."

"Not yet, Yugi," came the reply.

"Well we can't have that now, can we?" Yugi said, and before getting an answer he shouted, "Guys! Let's play Never Have I Ever!"

Everyone turned to him and Marik paused his dancing- he was playing against himself at this point- to ask, "How does that work?"

Yugi scrambled off Yami's lap and said, "It's simple, we take it in turns to say something we haven't done, and if you've done it you have to take a drink! What do you think?"

"I'm up for it," Bakura slurred slightly.

"Sure!" Joey agreed.

"Whatever," Kaiba said impassively.

"Sounds like a great idea to me!" Duke chipped in.

"Everything sounds like a great idea when you're like this," Tristan muttered.

"Go on then," Marik said.

"Okay!" Yugi said happily. "Everyone grab a drink and get in a circle."

Malik, who had just made it back to the sofa after dancing against Marik a few minutes ago, looked dismayed as everyone started moving around again.

"'Kura, what's going on?"

The white haired boy in question simply pulled him off the sofa and handed him another drink. "I'll explain as we go along dear," he promised.

"What did you call me?" the Egyptian asked, but before getting an answer he laughed and said, "Your hair's really fluffy, did you know that?" He then attempted to stroke Bakura's long white hair.

Had he not been drunk Bakura would probably have killed Malik on the spot for even saying such a thing, but as it was his senses were dulled and he simply said, "I am not fluffy. I am Bakura and you will address me as such."

Malik simply giggled and leaned on his shoulder. "Whatever you say, Fluffy."

"Is everyone ready?" Yugi asked the group.

"One minute, Ry's still a little hazy," Marik said, gesturing to the white mess of hair next to him. Ryou groaned slightly as Marik pulled him into a sitting position and put his arm around him again.

"Ok, I'm ready," he said weakly, before emitting a loud hiccup. "Oh dear, how very un-British of me, sorry everybody," he exclaimed, before descending into an uncontrollable laughing fit.

Bakura smirked. There was no way he was going to let Ryou forget this night.


	7. Truths

**Another direct continuation, let the awkwardness commence!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot. Still.**

_Chapter 7- Truths_

Once Ryou had calmed down enough to hold a drink without spilling it everywhere Yugi began the game.

"Ok then, I'll start." He thought for a moment about his question. "Never have I ever kissed a guy," he said, interested in the outcome.

"Oh, going straight for the not-so-innocent version are we? My favourite!" Joey grinned happily.

Marik, Duke, Tristan and Yami all took a drink, three of them blushing rather violently.

"What?" Joey asked looking at Tristan and Duke. "When was this? I didn't know you two were gay!"

""It was at a house party last year," Duke mumbled. "It started off as a dare actually, I blame him." He jerked his head at Tristan, who merely shrugged and said, "Don't say you didn't enjoy it."

This caused a few raised eyebrows around the room.

"What about you, Yami?" Joey asked, apparently determined to embarrass everyone in the room.

Yami's eyes darted over towards Marik (who grinned wolfishly) before looking at the floor sheepishly. "Um… I'd rather not say really-" He was interrupted by a mock gasp from Marik.

"Are you saying that it meant nothing, Yami-baby?" he slurred slightly before letting out a cackle.

Yami blushed furiously.

"Oh no way, you and Marik?" Yugi asked from his lap. "Why did you never tell me this?"

"You mean you didn't tell him, Yami-boo?" Marik said, faking disgruntlement.

"We were drunk you idiot," Yami snapped. "More than you are now actually."

"Wow Marik, you kept that one quiet," Ryou said from the Egyptian's side. "I'm surprised."

"Really Marik, I thought you would have better taste than that," Bakura remarked evilly before pushing Malik away- he was currently trying to crawl into his lap and stroke his hair.

"Ok guys, calm down!" Joey said as both Marik and Yami were about to retort. "Yami, I believe it's your turn."

The spiky haired teen was still a little embarrassed about his secret getting out- especially to Yugi- but began to think of a question. After a moment he said, "Never have I ever been mistaken for a girl."

Ryou, Bakura, Malik and Joey all drank to that.

"Hmm, I believe it's my turn is it not?" Ryou piped up drunkenly after finishing his drink. "Urm…" He scrunched up his nose cutely. "Never have I ever been late for class," he said, knowing most of them would have been at some point.

Everyone except Yugi, Kaiba and Ryou himself drank to that.

"Now, Seto, where's your rebellious side?" Joey said suggestively, scooting over to sit closer to the CEO. Kaiba merely looked at him.

"Well nobody has ever gotten close enough to me to bring it out," he replied after a moment's thought. He then pulled the blonde onto his lap without another word and put his arms round him, causing Joey to blush madly and grin like an idiot.

"Didn't see that one coming," Yugi whispered to Yami, who had raised an eyebrow.

"Totally saw that one coming," Bakura remarked to Malik, who was now nuzzling his white hair and saying, 'good kitty' happily and probably wasn't actually listening to him.

"My go!" Tristan shouted randomly from the other side of the circle even though it was nowhere near his turn. Before anyone could complain he said, "Never have I ever worn jewellery!"

There was an awkward silence before Duke said, "What kind of question is that?"

"Yeah, I thought you would have had something better than that," Bakura remarked.

"Just drink you jewellery-wearing people!" Tristan shouted, instantly regretting his decision to open his mouth so did the only sensible thing: meandered off to the kitchen to grab another beer.

In yet another awkward silence that followed his departure, Marik, Malik, Kaiba, Yami and Duke all drank.

"Well… That's that," Kaiba said dryly. "Shall we move on?"

"Ok then, my turn!" Marik announced. He paused for a moment to try and remember how to form a coherent sentence- it really had been a very large bottle of vodka- and looked over at Malik. He looked pretty drunk- the second he had taken his last drink he had gone back to nuzzling Bakura's hair. "Never have I ever been in denial about my sexuality."

Ryou burst out laughing. "Malik, you're up," he said between breaths.

"Hm? Oh." Malik looked around before reaching for his glass and taking a long drink. "What did I just drink to?"

Everyone in the room, even Kaiba, was practically rolling on the floor laughing at the irony of the situation. They could all see through Malik's transparent closet and the fact that he had just unwittingly admitted it was a source of great amusement. Bakura was slightly stunned as Malik looked dismayed at the hysteria that was happening around him.

"Everyone, my lovely housemate has finally come out of the closet!" Marik declared, and everyone drank to that one.

"Wait, what? No! I didn't know…" Malik looked like he was about to cry. As everyone seemed to ignore him, he pulled away from Bakura and once again ran from the room, sniffling slightly. As the door slammed everyone seemed to realise what had happened.

"Oh no," Yugi said sadly, "We've upset Malik."

"I feel awful," Ryou sniffed. "Maybe I should go and find him…" He made to get up.

"No," a voice interrupted. "I'll go." Bakura stood up and incredibly made it to the door without falling over. "I'll be back soon, you guys carry on without us," he said before leaving to find Malik.

There was a moment of quiet that was filled only by the sound of the speakers playing '_Call Me Maybe'_ and the reappearance of Tristan from the kitchen. He tripped back to his spot without realising what had just happened before realising most people were staring at him.

"What?" he asked as he sat down again. Once again there was an awkward silence: the kind only Tristan knew how to create.

"You guys are terrible people, you know that?" Marik said casually, looking around the room. As was expected he received a barrage of insults right back at him. "Joking!" he said.


	8. Kiss

**Here you go, another longer chapter with lots of fluff, you have been warned :D I liked writing this chapter, I would like to know what you think. Thanks to my lovely reviewer for your kind words, have a chapter and a cookie :P **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Yugioh it wouldn't be a fanfic now would it? **

_Chapter 8- Kiss_

Meanwhile, Bakura had headed upstairs to try and locate Malik. After looking in a few rooms he finally found the Egyptian looking out of the window in what appeared to be Joey's bedroom.

"Malik?" he asked slowly.

The bronze boy turned around, and Bakura was surprised to see no traces of the tears he could have sworn were there downstairs.

"I thought you would come and find me, 'Kura," he said quietly. "They were right you know."

"About what?" Bakura asked warily, closing the door and walking towards Malik slowly.

"Being in denial," Malik replied. "I was stupid to do that; there's only one person I find I actually like spending time with and because I was such an idiot I might have left it too long."

They were stood inches away from each other now, the Egyptian looking up at Bakura with huge amethyst eyes and breathing rather quickly. It took the Brit a second to piece everything together but once he had worked it out he said, "You know what I would do if I were in that situation?"

Malik simply looked at him imploringly.

"I would just go for it," Bakura breathed as he leant forward slightly.

Marik seemed to hesitate for a moment before throwing caution to the winds and closing the gap between them. Their lips crashed together as the Egyptian snaked his arms around Bakura's neck and pulled him closer. Bakura let out a moan of surprise as he felt Malik's tongue slip into his mouth and proceed to map out every inch of it. He felt himself being pushed backwards and his back hit the wall as Malik continued to kiss him fiercely, as though he was afraid to pull away. All too soon, however, the need for air became too great and they had to pull apart.

"Wow," said Bakura after he had remembered how to breathe again. "Bloody hell Malik, when did you learn how to do that?"

"I didn't," the Egyptian whispered, "That was my first kiss." He looked down at the floor slightly embarrassed. Bakura allowed this thought to process through his alcohol-soaked brain before responding by tilting Malik's chin up and kissing him again lightly.

"And that was your second. Practice makes perfect, you know," he said, smirking slightly. Malik picked up on the hint quickly and returned his lips to Bakura's with even more passion than the first time. This time it was Malik's mouth that was invaded as Bakura took control of the kiss, pushing himself off the wall and backing Malik up until the backs of the Egyptian's knees hit the bed and he fell backwards onto the sheets. Bakura crawled on top of him and continued to kiss him, determined to map out every inch of his mouth as his hands wandered up underneath Malik's shirt.

He was just about to remove the offending item when there was a knock at the door and Marik's not-so-subtle voice shouted, "Everything alright in there?" This was followed by some muffled giggles and a loud bang as someone walked into something. Then the door was thrown open to show that everyone had ventured upstairs and had in fact been listening to the whole thing. Malik pushed Bakura off him- who growled in sexual frustration as he landed on the floor- before standing and shouting, "You perverts! Go get your own boyfriends!"

This caused Duke and Tristan to crack up laughing again which eventually set everyone else off and even Bakura cracked a smile from his spot on the floor where he had landed. Just as people were managing to regain control of themselves Joey noticed a broken vase that was probably the cause of the bang earlier.

"Hey guys, before you demolish my house any further maybe it would be a good idea if we all went out so you guys don't break anything else!" he suggested brilliantly. "That way we can still have an awesome time and I won't have to pay for any new furniture!"

"You mean like clubbing? That sounds like a great idea!" Yugi shouted, who was hanging off Yami's arm. Yami was pretty sure he was the only sober one there actually and was starting to regret it.

"Go on then," Duke said, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Fire, theft, bad dancing, nudity and death," Marik supplied helpfully as he caught Ryou as the small boy nearly tripped over his own feet. "Woah, Ry, I think the last thing you need is more booze!" he exclaimed as he gave up on trying to keep Ryou stood on his own two feet and opted to pick him up instead.

"Mhm, I think I'm very sleepy now, Marik," the white haired boy said softly, nuzzling into Marik's chest.

"Do you want to stay here?" the tall Egyptian asked, looking down at Ryou with a gentle expression that didn't often cross his features.

Ryou simply nodded and closed his eyes. The rest of the group were making plans to go out, even Malik and Bakura had got over the embarrassment of being caught and were quite happily holding hands and arguing over which was the better club to go to.

"Alright then," Marik whispered, "I'll stay with you." As the other eight began to make their way downstairs Marik carried Ryou into the recently vacated bedroom and laid him down on the bed. "I'll just go talk to the others and I'll be right back, little one," he said before running off downstairs.

He caught up with the others as they were grabbing wallets and ID's and putting shoes on by the door. "Guys I'm gonna stay here with Ryou I think- he's a little tired and he's going to have a bad enough hangover tomorrow as it is," he explained.

Bakura looked up at this. "Don't you try anything, Marik. If I find out you molested my housemate I will be very pissed off with you and you will regret it."

"You're actually the one doing the molesting here," Marik pointed out, looking at his own roommate.

"It's not molesting if you enjoy it," Malik supplied helpfully.

"Get a room!" Tristan shouted from by the door.

"We did but you bloody wankers interrupted us!" Bakura yelled back, before chuckling at his own language, which was for some reason incredibly funny to him.

"Whatever, all I'm saying is Ryou and I won't be going out so we can stay and housesit or something, Joey," Marik said. "You guys have fun, and stay away from games of naked Twister, they tend to get nasty." He turned and ran back upstairs without another word.

"He says that as though he's actually done it," Seto remarked to nobody in particular.

"He probably has," Yami muttered to him. "With Marik nothing's impossible."

As Kaiba was left to contemplate this rather disturbing fact, Joey shouted, "Everyone ready?"

There were nods and a few drunken giggles before the group headed outside into the cool night air.

"Bloody hell it's cold," Malik shouted in a British accent as the group huddled on the doorstep waiting for Joey to lock the door.

"Seriously, you're mocking me now?" Bakura said. "Nobody mocks me and gets away with it!" He then proceeded to try and catch the Egyptian, who stumbled away from him and ended up falling into Seto and Duke as Bakura landed on top of him. The result was a very interesting pile-on involving lots of swearing and kicking just as Joey turned around from locking the door.

"Nyeh?" he asked, before shrugging and grabbing people at random to separate them.

Marik watched them from the bedroom window upstairs as they sorted themselves out and meandered down off the street towards town occasionally tripping over themselves. He sighed. If Ryou wasn't with him right now he would have wished he was going with them. But he had had many nights out before and would do again whereas there wasn't often an opportunity to for him to spend time with the gentle white haired boy- even if he was currently half passed out on Joey's bed.

As the group wandered out of sight towards inevitable trouble Marik turned from the window and walked over to the bed where Ryou was sprawled out. Brown eyes blinked up at him.

"Hello, Marik," he whispered. "I have a feeling I won't remember much of this in the morning so I'm just going to blame alcohol. Will you kiss me?"

Marik was slightly stunned at the abruptness of the question and was about to oblige before he stopped himself and asked, "Wait, why are you asking?"

"I like you, Marik, but I've always been too shy to admit it. I'm not really shy though, I can actually be really hyper, but I thought people would like me less if I behaved like me so I always hid it but now I can just say what I think because there's nothing stopping me right now so now I'm telling you and I really really like you." The Brit paused to breathe and looked slightly surprised that he had just said such a long sentence in his current state.

Marik just sat on the edge of the bed with his mouth slightly open. He had honestly had no idea there was such a different side to Ryou, but now he had seen it he wanted _more._

"Ryou, you should be like this more often, it's amazing," he breathed, causing Ryou to giggle slightly.

"You think so?" he asked. "It's true that I'm very insecure around people, I wouldn't want you to think- mmph!" He was cut off by Marik's lips meeting his own and kissing him deeply. The Eygptian crawled onto the bed next to him and continued to kiss him as he wrapped his arms around the smaller boy. After a few more moments they broke for air and Ryou snuggled into Marik's broad chest.

"Thank you," he said happily as he breathed in Marik's scent- he smelled like cinnamon and aftershave with a hint of the vodka he had been drinking earlier.

"You're welcome," the taller replied. They stayed quiet for a minute or two before Ryou broke the silence.

"Marik?"

"Hm?"

"Will you remember this tomorrow?"

There was a pause before the reply.

"I sure hope so."

Ryou smiled again.


	9. Split

**Thanks for the lovely review again Angel7109, I promise Joey and Seto are in the next chapter ;) Hope everyone is enjoying the story; we're about halfway through now. Reviews are love!**

**Disclaimer: Do I really need to say it again? Fine, I own only the plot. Enjoy!**

_Chapter 9- Split_

"You do realise we may not be allowed into any clubs in this state," Seto remarked as Joey fell into him for the third time. "Most of you are so far gone I bet you don't even know your own names."

"Hey, I know my name! It's Joey. Jo-ey!"

"You're kind of missing the point," Kaiba sighted but carried on walking anyway.

"How much further?" Malik shouted up from the back of the group. "If it's much further I'll have to get Fluffy to carry me!"

"Who's Fluffy?" Tristan asked before letting out a loud hiccup.

"Why it's Bakura of course!" Malik replied. "'Kura is going to be my Fluffy for ever and ever! But he might have to carry me if we have to walk much further, I'm very tired."

Bakura had gone very red at Malik's statement- his drunken mind was trying to work out whether he had just been called Malik's boyfriend or not but he was having a hard time forming coherent thoughts which made the task rather difficult. He decided to just go with it and ask Malik in the morning. He put his arm around Malik and pulled the boy closer to him as they walked. Malik let out a little squeak of happiness and hugged tighter, making it pretty hard to walk.

Meanwhile, Yugi was exclaiming, "I've never been to a club before, is it fun?"

"Oh it's great," Duke replied. "You meet so many people and there's a vibe you don't get anywhere else."

"Although chances are you won't remember much of it in the morning if you do it right," Tristan added.

Yami sighed. He didn't like the idea of an innocent Yugi in a club- he knew the type of people who frequented those places and even though he was one of them he didn't trust others not to take advantage of the small boy. He would have to make sure he didn't leave Yugi's side once they got in. Well, he was assuming they were going to get in anyway- there was a possibility they wouldn't.

The group finally arrived in the clubbing part of the town a while later and began arguing again over which was the better club. There were two main ones you didn't have to pay to get into and they also served the cheapest drinks. One was called _Devil's Lotus _and was the slightly posher of the two; the other was simply named _Corp_, and was renowned for being a little wilder.

"But Corp has two bars!" Joey was arguing. "And it's open later…"

"No, I am not taking Yugi to Corp, he'll get murdered," Yami said flatly. "You can go there if you want but we'll go to the one where you're less likely to have your drink spiked."

"What about you guys?" Joey asked, appealing to the rest of the group.

"I don't mind," said Duke. "Me and Tristan usually go between the two but we end up in Corp because of the later finish."

"I prefer Lotus to be honest," Bakura remarked. "Especially if I've already had something, it's a calmer atmosphere and you don't get people dancing next to you when you're trying to drink."

"We'll split to start with then," Joey said. "We can meet up in a few hours back at mine and we'll probably run into each other a few times anyway."

He headed off towards the large brick building that was Corp and Kaiba, Duke and Tristan followed.

"Guess that leaves us then," Yugi said before grabbing Yami's hand and dragging him towards Lotus. "Remember, we are totally sober!" he shouted over his shoulder and Bakura and Malik.

"Ready?" Bakura asked.

"I'm always ready," Malik replied, smiling up at the white haired boy. "Stay with me, 'Kura?"

"As long as you don't get us kicked out," Bakura joked as they headed after Yami and Yugi.

They caught up with the two as they reached the rather grand entrance guarded by a couple of bouncers.

"You boys got ID?" one of them said in a deep voice, obviously chosen for the job because he could be intimidating. After a slight pause in which Yami wrestled his driving licence from his tight leather pants with some difficulty, they were all admitted and had their hands stamped so they could get back in. As they walked into the club Malik let out a gasp.

"Wow, you picked the right place, 'Kura!"

Bakura smirked. He had to admit he had been pretty impressed with Devil's Lotus the first time he had come. There were three floors: the first one contained the speakers and a DJ at the side of a huge dance floor; the second floor had the bar and a seating area, and the third one was dedicated to a slightly quieter atmosphere with little alcoves for only a few people to sit in at a time. Hanging from the ceiling was a huge disco ball which reflected the lasers coming from all around the room, giving a large rainbow effect all the way down to the first floor. The club was always rather popular due to the free entry- even now around 9pm there were plenty of people dancing and drinking and laughing on all three floors.

Malik tore his eyes away from the disco ball and simply stood there taking in the atmosphere. "This place is amazing." Bakura simply nodded.

"It's awesome, Malik. Super special awesome!" shouted Yugi from right next to him. "What's on the top floor?" he asked the other two.

"It's sort of like a quieter seating area that's a bit more private. Little alcoves and stuff," Yami summarised. "Do you guys want to go grab a drink and sit up there for a while?"

"Yeah, the music is a little loud down here and we can always dance later," Malik said in a raised voice. "Let's go!" He grabbed Bakura's hand and pulled him towards the stairs. Yugi followed them up to the second floor excitedly with Yami bringing up the rear. They headed towards the bar and looked at the drinks on offer.

"Oh wow, I've never had a cocktail before," Malik exclaimed. "They all sound really interesting." He paused for a moment before his eyes went wide. "Oh my god, Bakura, you should totally order a Porn Star Martini!" He descended into a fit of laughter as Bakura just stood there. "Oh please do, I want to hear you ask for it!" Malik said once he had recovered.

"Actually I'm not fond of that mixture, I've had it before and I'm not fussed," Bakura remarked. "I think I'll have a Cherry Pop instead."

"Ooh that sounds nice," Malik said. "I think I'll try that too!"

"Get your own bloody drink!"

"That's not fair!"

"Neither is you stealing my idea."

"But-" Malik was cut off by Bakura leaning towards him and whispering, "If you order something else, you can still try the Cherry Pop later, only not from the glass, if you know what I mean."

Malik took a moment to understand before turning to the barman and saying, "I'll have a Purple Rain cocktail pitcher please."

Bakura smirked a little as he placed his order and paid for his drink. He knew Malik better than the Egyptian thought he did.

Yami watched the whole scene take place as Yugi scanned the list of drinks excitably next to him. The two sounded like an old married couple with their constant bickering- yet they seemed right for each other too. He hoped whatever was going on between them worked out alright for them- he only wished Yugi and he could be the same.

"Do you want to share a Blue Lagoon with me?" Yugi asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Hm, sure," he replied, still slightly distracted by Malik and Bakura, who were now arguing on who was going to carry the drinks upstairs. Yami leaned against the bar as Yugi ordered the cocktail and paid for it, before the four of them made their way up towards the quieter floor.

There were about thirty little alcoves altogether, set into the walls at regular intervals and separated from the rest of the clubbers somewhat by thin curtains over the entrances. They were softly lit by small lights set into the ceiling which contrasted nicely from the rest of the club and the seats were adorned with soft cushions. The four of them found a free one and entered, setting the drinks down on the table in the middle and sitting down on the plush seat that ran all around the sides of the alcove.

Yami sat down next to Yugi, who poured him a glass of the Blue Lagoon and handed it to him.

"Thanks," the taller teen said, before remembering something. "I forgot to pay my half of this, how much was it?"

"Don't worry about it," Yugi said carefully as he poured himself a glass too.

"That's not fair to you, how much was it?"

Yami was startled when Yugi suddenly leaned very close to him and said quietly, "You can pay me back some other time, some other way," before moving away again with a hint of a smirk. Yami just sat there clutching his drink. Had Yugi realised what he had just implied? Probably not, he was quite drunk. But still… He would have to ask the smaller teen about that later.


	10. Acquaintance

**Another slightly longer chapter, this one focusses on the other club. Reviews would be greatly appreciated!**

**naynaynaynay: Aw thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it!**

**Angel7109: No he isn't innocent is he? :P I don't think any of them are! Hope you like this chapter :D**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything but the plot. Enjoy!**

_Chapter 10- Acquaintance _

"I still need to see your ID," the lone bouncer on the door said again.

Joey cursed as he emptied his pockets once again. He could have sworn he had put his licence in his jacket pocket before he left. Or maybe he had imagined it… either way, it wasn't there now and the mean man on the door wouldn't let him in without it, which would leave him awkwardly stood on his own outside still rather drunk.

That was until he heard a cough behind him. He turned to see Kaiba, who had been stood behind the other two, coming forwards.

"I can vouch for his age. I assure you he's old enough to get in," he said, much to the surprise of the others. What was Kaiba doing?

The bouncer simply smirked. "And why would I trust you?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Do you know who I am?" Seto asked dangerously.

"No idea," came the reply, as the man leaned casually on the wall next to him.

"I am the person who gave you this job you idiot," hissed Kaiba, thrusting his driving licence in the man's face and glaring at him. "Now let us in or I'm firing you."

A look of recognition followed by one of fear crossed the man's face as he read the name on the licence.

"Mr Kaiba, I'm so sorry, Sir. I didn't recognise you there, I was just doing my job, apologies for the inconvenience, go right in, all of you." The shocked bouncer hurriedly moved aside without bothering to check Duke and Tristan's ID's at all.

"And you had better be lucky that I'm feeling lenient tonight, otherwise you would be finding another job" Kaiba spat as he pushed a shocked Joey into the club and entering behind him. The poor bouncer looked as though he was going to have a heart attack: he slumped against the wall breathing heavily and simply waved the next patrons in without bothering to check how old they were.

"You own this club?" Joey asked incredulously as they made their way down the hall towards the main clubbing area. "How come you never mentioned it?"

"I'm Seto Kaiba. I don't need to mention it," Kaiba remarked, but he was smiling.

"It's just that Corp doesn't really seem like your style," Joey continued. "Is this where your rebellious side likes to hide?" he joked, laughing.

"Perhaps. I'm full of surprises," the CEO replied. "You owe me one for what happened back there, Katsuya. I don't often make my presence known when I come here as it usually ends with me needing to find new staff. Well, get other people to find me new staff anyway."

Joey tripped slightly as they walked and fell awkwardly onto the brunette, who reflexively caught him before he faceplanted the floor.

"Please call me Joey," said blonde breathed as he looked up at the taller boy. "And I'll make sure to repay you very well, don't worry."

Before Kaiba could respond Joey had pushed himself away and half walked, half staggered into the main club. Upon arriving Joey realised once again how much he liked this place. Sure, it wasn't for everyone but it was great once you got used to it. There were two floors, both containing a large bar that took up a whole wall each. The ground floor had a large space reserved for dancing to the music that was blasting from the large speakers on the wall. They were currently playing a Linkin Park song- it was obviously rock night in the club.

The second floor was more like balconies overlooking the first floor. There was still room to dance though, and there were a few tables and chairs up there for when you were feeling tired or dizzy. What Joey particularly liked was the faded lights that hung from the ceiling that cast a dark, mysterious glow over the room and the people in it. It was a place where anything could happen.

He felt an arm around his shoulder and looked around in surprise to see Kaiba stood there looking towards the large crowd that was already occupying the floor. "You know, I will be taking you up on that statement," he said without looking at the blonde.

"Huh?"

"The one just now, about how you'll repay me very well for letting you in."

Joey went a little pink but was not going to pass up this chance. He was drunk anyway, so if it went wrong he could blame it on that. "Well that's good, because I intend on repaying my debt before the end of the night," he said, throwing caution to the winds, before winking and pulling out of Seto's hold to run off to the bar.

"Hey, Kaiba, did you just upset Joey?"

A very intoxicated Tristan had appeared behind him, holding yet another drink in his hand. He had obviously found the bar pretty quickly and was now watching as the blonde made his way round the large crowd on the dance floor.

"No," Seto replied distantly, still watching Joey walking away.

"It looks like you did," said Tristan after a moment's silence.

"Well, I didn't. Go dance on a table with Duke or something," Kaiba said vaguely, and he too headed off towards the bar. Tristan took a moment to contemplate his situation (and quite possibly the meaning of life too) before heading off to try and find his black-haired partner. He had some serious dancing to attend to.

"One Jägerbomb please," Joey said to one of the bartenders who had his back to him.

"Just a sec," came the reply as the man finished mixing his current order. A couple of seconds later he turned around with the completed drinks and Joey gasped.

"Atem?"

Yami's tanned cousin handed the patrons their drinks before turning to face the blonde.

"Joey? Is that you?"

"Yeah," said the blonde, still surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like, I work here," Atem smirked. "It's been a while, how are you doing?"

"Good, yeah, life's pretty good at the moment. You?"

"It's alright I guess," the dark skinned male replied. Atem had moved from Egypt a few years before Malik and Marik to live with Yami. He used to join the group on their nights out sometimes but he had grown more distant over the past year or so, and the last most of them had heard he had moved out of Yami's place to live with a girl called Mana.

"How long have you been working here?" Joey questioned. "Never seen you here before."

"Must be a couple of months now," Atem said. "Jägerbomb was it?"

The blonde nodded and decided to seat himself on a barstool before he fell over. Perhaps another drink wasn't what he needed right now.

"So who are you here with?" Yami's cousin asked as he went about making his drink.

"Um, Kaiba actually," Joey said slowly. "There were ten of us to start with but we seem to be going our separate ways a lot. Sure we'll meet up later though."

Atem had paused at Kaiba's name. "Really, you're here with the boss? How did you get him to come, I didn't even know you knew him well?"

Joey looked at the bar in great interest. "Um, it's kind of a long story," he muttered.

This got a laugh from Atem. "Ok then, I guess I don't want to know. Here you go, one Jägerbomb," he said, putting the shot glass inside the larger glass and placing it on the bar. "On the house for old friends. Plus if you're here with the boss then I'm sure he won't mind," he added before winking.

"Yo, can we get some shots over here?" a voice came from further down the bar. Atem sighed.

"Gotta go, Joey. It was nice seeing you though, even though I doubt you will even remember it in the morning." The tanned man chuckled as he made his way over to the next patron, thinking that he should perhaps not have served his obviously drunk old friend.

Said drunk old friend was engaging in a heated staring contest with his drink when Kaiba joined him.

"I think your friends are going to get thrown out rather soon," he remarked as he perched on the bar stool next to him. Joey looked over to where Kaiba was indicating to see Tristan and Duke. More specifically: Tristan and Duke dancing together on a table in front of a gathering crowd without a care in the world. As Joey and Seto looked on, Tristan shouted something incomprehensible and took his top off, throwing it into the audience. He then turned to Duke and proceeded to make out with him on the table.

"Oh dear," their blonde friend said. "They're at it again, I can't look. Why the hell are they even doing that?" He hid his face in his arms so didn't see the slightly guilty look that crossed Kaiba's face. The alcohol high Joey had been on for most of the night was starting to wear off, and the last thing he wanted was to walk all the way home with his intoxicated friends stumbling after him.

"Come on, let's go."

Joey raised his head. "Go where?" he asked Kaiba, who was looking at him intently.

"You forget that I own this place. I know somewhere a bit more private than here." He leaned in closer. "And perhaps you can repay that debt you owe me," he whispered seductively.

Joey thought about that for approximately one second before downing his drink in one gulp, slamming the glass on that table and standing up, not taking his eyes off the brunette the whole time. Seto laughed slightly as he took the shorter boy by the hand and led him through the crowd towards the stairs. Once on the second floor he headed towards the darkest corner and unlocked a door there, pulling the blonde inside and locking it behind them again. Tristan and Duke didn't see them go. They were too busy drunkenly dancing their way across the tables to notice.


	11. Advice

**Here, have a little bit of thiefshipping :')**

**Angel7109: Oh yes, I do know what you mean ;)**

**Disclaimer: I no own. Enjoy! :D**

_Chapter 11- Advice_

"I love this song! Let's go dance, Yami!"

Before said boy had a chance to react Yugi grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the alcove and down the stairs, leaving Malik and Bakura alone. The four of them had passed a pleasant hour or so talking about a lot of things, generally getting each other to admit embarrassing things they wouldn't normally say, before Yugi had started to get slightly restless. The small boy wanted to try everything a club had to offer and he was so buzzed from the energy drink in his cocktail that he had to dance.

As the curtain swung shut behind them Bakura turned to Malik.

"Malik, there's something I've been wanting to ask you," he began somewhat awkwardly.

He was cut off by the Egyptian cuddling up to him and resting his head on his shoulder, large purple eyes gazing up at him happily. He looked so content with his situation that Bakura decided to rephrase his question.

"Will you be my boyfriend, Malik?"

Malik's eyes widened. "I thought we already were boyfriends, Fluffy!" he exclaimed.

"I was just making sure," Bakura chuckled quietly. "After all, you didn't explicitly say it. And don't call me Fluffy," he said as an afterthought.

"Shush, Fluffy."

"Make me."

Bakura's eyes widened in surprise as he felt Malik's lips crash against his. He let out a small moan and opened his mouth to allow Malik access.

Malik ran his tongue around the inside of him mouth before breaking briefly to say," Mmm, you taste like Cherry Pop, 'Kura. I think I like it."

The Egyptian then swung one of his legs over Bakura so he was straddling him and put his arms around his neck, pulling him closer as he resumed kissing him. Malik broke the kiss to move to suck on Bakura's neck, causing the pale teen to lean his head back to allow the Egyptian to kiss all around his neck and collar bone, slowly undoing the top buttons on his shirt as he did so.

"Shit," Bakura breathed as he felt one of Malik's hands move up his shirt as the other continued to undo the buttons one by one. The feel of his partner's fingers ghosting over his stomach and chest was sending his thoughts to all kinds of places and causing his blood to rush south embarrassingly fast. The blonde finally released the last button from the shirt and pulled it open, revealing Bakura's toned chest and stomach. Malik took a moment to sit back and admire the view before leaning down to reclaim Bakura's lips with his own. Then, eager to experiment, Malik ground his hips downwards, eliciting a loud moan from his partner, who bucked his own hips up desperately.

"Bloody hell," the whitette said, panting slightly. "Malik we can't do this here. If you carry on like that I am going to literally rip your clothes off and take you right now."

Malik responded by slowly grinding his hips down again and made sure Bakura could feel the friction it caused. The result was his partner clenching his hands into fists and holding back a loud moan.

"You… Are something else," he said breathlessly, looking up at Malik through lust-filled eyes. "But really, I don't think the establishment would appreciate me making a mess of their sofa. So let's wait till we're really alone and aren't likely to be interrupted, shall we?"

Malik pouted slightly, but nodded silently before leaning in and saying, "What makes you think you'll be the one taking me, hm?" Bakura's somewhat collected thoughts were sent straight back off to all the places they were before and he let out a small incomprehensible noise in reply. Malik got off of Bakura and reluctantly allowed him to button his shirt up again before resuming his original position by his side. They stayed like that in comfortable silence for a while, allowing the music to drift up to them from the ground floor and enjoying their close proximity to each other.

"Do you want another drink?" Bakura asked a while later.

"Mhm," Malik nodded. "That means you have to get up though!" he said in dismay.

"Well yeah, even I can't summon drinks," the pale teen chuckled. "Though it would be very handy if I could. What do you want?"

"Whatever, I don't really mind," Malik said as he reluctantly moved so Bakura could get up.

"I don't think they sell that here," he said as he stood up. "I'll see what they have." With that he pushed the curtain aside and left to enter the main club once more.

Malik was quite content to sit in the little alcove on his own and think now he was a little more sober. He was starting to realise how stupid he had been to pretend he didn't like Bakura. He had spent so long in denial but looking back he realised it had probably been pretty obvious to most that he was gay. The only person he had really been kidding was himself. He still wasn't sure what had caused him to act the way he had at Joey's earlier, storming off like that.

He had just wanted to get away from all the laughter and teasing, and instead realised that they weren't teasing him, they just knew him better than he knew himself. He supposed it had been pretty funny to the others, seeing him denying the truth. Marik and Ryou had been trying to get him to realise the glaringly obvious and all he had done was throw it back in their faces. He sighed. He would have to apologise to them when he saw them again.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the return of Yami and Yugi, who were laughing as they pushed the curtain aside.

"-and then he just fell!" Yugi was laughing as they sat back down. "Hey Malik, where's Bakura?"

"He went to go and get another drink," Malik replied, motioning to the empty glasses on the table.

"That sounds like a good idea actually," said Yami, who seemed slightly red in the face from the dancing.

"I'll go and get them!" Yugi chirped brightly. "What do you want, Yami?"

"Whatever looks good," the taller teen replied. "Do you want paying now or later?" he asked somewhat cautiously.

Yugi thought about this for the moment as Malik looked between the two. He felt as though he was missing something there. "Later," Yugi finally said as he stood up and headed out again.

Yami smirked slightly and Malik couldn't resist asking. "Ok, what's with you two? You've been acting strange around him all night, Yami."

Yami sighed. "It's a little complicated if I'm being honest."

"Really?" the blonde asked. "It seems rather obvious to me actually. You really like Yugi but aren't sure whether he likes you back, so you're trying to find out without giving away the game to him but you've been finding it rather difficult. But judging by your smirk just now, he's said or done something that's made you think he does like you, so now you don't know whether to act on it or not because it could just be because he's drunk. Please, tell me if I'm getting any of this wrong."

Yami just sat there speechlessly. And here he thought he was being subtle! He hoped the others weren't as aware of his situation as Malik was.

"Judging by the look on your face, I'm pretty sure I'm right," Malik continued. "So I'm going to give you some advice."

Yami subconsciously leaned in closer.

"Don't hold back. Tell him. Tell him before it's too late," the bronze boy said earnestly. "Because if you don't someone else is going to get him and you'll lose him."

"Really?" Yami asked desperately. "You think I should tell him? I don't want to risk losing his friendship- what if he rejects me and it becomes awkward?"

"It won't," Malik said. "He gave you 'the look' you know."

"What's 'the look'?"

"It's the look Bakura does when he sees me, and the look Joey does whenever he thinks nobody sees him staring at Kaiba, and tonight it's the look Yugi did when he looked at you. It's something I can't really explain to you, as you have to be observant enough to spot it and it's hard to describe. Trust me, he likes you, but he'll never say anything because he's too shy."

"But we've known each other for years and he's not once shown any inclination…" Yami trailed off as he Malik glared at him.

"For a long time I convinced myself I didn't like Bakura in that way, and now I'm regretting it because he and I could have got together a long time ago. But we didn't because I was too much of an idiot to admit that I liked him and he was too afraid to tell me his feelings because he often pretends he doesn't have any. But look at us now. I have a really good feeling about us, Yami, and I get the same vibe with you and Yugi, so get out there and go get him before someone else does. I heard that clubs are places that people go to pick up other people so you'd better hope no-one's tried it with Yugi yet."

All of a sudden Yami was terrified that Yugi had been chatted up by someone else and the thought made his heart clench. Without another word he got up and quickly exited the booth the find his smaller friend, leaving Malik alone again.

Yami made his way down to the second floor but couldn't see Yugi anywhere. His feeling of panic was increasing- he knew it was irrational but he couldn't help himself- he needed to find Yugi before he was taken from him by some random stranger. Desperately, he looked over the railings to the ground floor, scanning the dancing crowd for the familiar tri-coloured hair.

The moment he found it he wished he hadn't because what he saw made him feel sick. His small friend had his back to him and was in a corner making out with someone whose face he couldn't see, and was making no attempt to move away. Yami didn't think, he simply ran down the stairs and out of the door, heading towards Joey's without looking back.


	12. Desperate

**Have a chapter, dear readers.**

**Angel7109- I'm sorry! **

**Disclaimer: Me no owny **** Enjoy!**

_Chapter 12- Desperate_

Bakura turned from the bar with a couple of drinks in his hands and saw a familiar flash of tri-colour hair move down the stairs. As he moved closer to the railings he watched as Yami fled the club without a backwards glance.

'How odd," the Brit thought, as he scanned the crowd for any sign of what may have caused his friend's sudden disappearance. "Bloody hell," he said out loud as he caught sight of Yugi in the corner with his… Partner? He now realised why Yami had left so fast- it was quite obvious he had seen them. Shaking his head he turned away from the railings and slowly made his way back upstairs. Upon reaching their booth he put the drinks down on the table and said to Malik, "You'll never guess what's just happened."

"What?" his boyfriend asked, grinning for some reason which confused Bakura slightly.

"Yami left after seeing Yugi getting off with someone else in a corner of the ground floor," the pale teen deadpanned, causing the happy look on Malik's face to be wiped off and replaced by one of shock.

"Oh no," he breathed, putting his head in his hands.

"What?" Bakura said, instantly suspicious. "Malik, what did you do?"

"I… I told Yami… I told him to go and find Yugi before someone else got him… If I hadn't said that then he's never have seen… Oh shit, I've just messed everything up so badly for them." Malik slumped backwards in despair, and Bakura had no idea how to respond to that one. "I don't understand, they're so right for each other, what's Yugi doing?" Malik muttered, more to himself than Bakura.

The Brit put his arm around Malik's shoulders somewhat awkwardly, he was still getting used to actually displaying some emotion, and said, "It's not your fault, Malik, and it may actually be better that Yami saw it, you know if anything happened between them it would tear Yugi apart to keep it from him."

Malik simply closed his eyes. "I know, but I still feel bad. It was meant to be advice."

"It was actually excellent foreshadowing," Bakura remarked dryly, before seeing the look on his partners face. "I'm sorry, you know I didn't mean it like that."

Malik, nodded slightly before curling up closer to Bakura and taking a sip of his new drink. They remained like that for a couple of minutes before Yugi himself returned with a couple of drinks, presumably he had bought them on his way back up to the third floor.

"Where's Yami?" he asked immediately before even sitting down.

"He left," Bakura said flatly. "After he saw you doing whatever it was you were doing with that person on the dance floor.

Yugi's eyes went wide with realisation as his hands flew to his mouth. "Oh no," he whispered. "Oh no, I've blown it." Tears were welling up in his eyes. "You two have to believe me, she was drunk and decided she wanted to dance with me when I was about to get the drinks. She dragged me onto the dance floor and forced me to…" He trailed off miserably. "Yami saw didn't he?"

"Yep," Bakura said. "Right after he realised you weren't doing anything to stop her."

"She'd pinned my arms to my sides and was practically molesting me!" Yugi shouted in anguish. "She was stronger than me, I tried to get away but she wouldn't let go!" The tears that had pooled in his eyes overflowed and rolled down his cheeks. "Yami will have gone back to Joey's won't he?" he asked through his sobs.

"I assume so," Malik said, standing up to hug Yugi. "He may not want to see you right now though," he said quietly.

"No, I have to talk to him! I have to tell him… To tell him-"

"That you like him as much as he likes you," Bakura finished for him.

Yugi nodded silently and he buried his face into Malik's shirt. Malik awkwardly patted him on the back until his crying died down somewhat.

"I have to go back to Joey's," he said determinedly, wiping a couple of tears from his face. "I'll find him and talk to him and everything will be alright once I see him."

"You can't wander through town on your own, Yugi," Malik said gently. "It's better that you stay here and wait until we leave so you're safe."

"But I can't," Yugi said pathetically.

Malik sighed. "If Marik is willing to leave Ryou for a while we could ask him to get you on his bike, if he's sober enough to ride that is."

"He had a whole bottle of vodka and various other bottles, I'd be surprised if he can even walk, never mind ride a motorbike," Bakura said.

"You'd be impressed at Marik's metabolism actually, 'Kura. He won't even have a hangover tomorrow after drinking that. It's practically pre-drinks for him," Malik said, speaking from experience.

"Would Marik really do that?" Yugi asked, finally releasing Malik and sitting down slowly.

"I'm pretty sure he will if we tell him we'll ban Ryou from seeing him if he doesn't," Bakura grinned.

"Harsh," Malik commented. "But it may work. I'll give him a call and see if he will. Don't worry, Yugi, you've got your two semi-drunk friends on the case, everything will be alright in the end." He disappeared to make the call.

"But… I'm a little scared of Marik," Yugi admitted quietly to the Brit sat a few feet away from him. "Yami said he would stay with me the whole night so I would be safe." He hiccupped sadly, if such a thing was even possible.

"Marik isn't bad," Bakura said somewhat begrudgingly. "And I bet he'll be in a good mood as he's got Ryou with him."

"And I'm trying to get him to leave him!"

"Ah." There was a moment's silence.

"I don't really like clubs," Yugi said miserably. "They do funny things to your brain."

The Brit chuckled slightly. "No, that would be the shots you took earlier I think. Alcohol really clouds your judgement you know." He paused for a moment before he said, "I believe you, Yugi."

"Believe what?"

"That you didn't do it on purpose. I know you like Yami, even if you won't admit it."

Yugi allowed this to sink in for a second. "You know, I think you're the most observant in the group, Bakura. You tend to stay on the edge a lot but really you're just figuring people out without being uncovered yourself aren't you?"

"Well deduced," Bakura said quietly, because it was true. He was mostly just a constant presence on the fringe of the group, so not many of them knew a lot about him- he on the other hand had their personalities worked out.

"You should come into the open more often," Yugi said earnestly, momentarily forgetting his situation to give some advice. "It's nice being able to talk to you properly."

Bakura simply grunted at that and was saved from more talking by the reappearance of Malik. "He'll come and get you," he said. "But you owe me one, I got insulted for my trouble and I don't think he's too happy about leaving his precious Ryou."

"You really didn't have to," Yugi said faintly, looking rather pale. "I would have walked."

"Don't worry, Marik's actually been mostly sober for the whole evening, he just likes to act up," Malik reassured him. "You'll be fine."

"If you say so." Under normal circumstances Yugi wouldn't have accepted a ride from Malik's intimidating housemate for anything, but this was something else. If he didn't find Yami he wasn't sure what he would do, but it wouldn't be good.


	13. Call

**Mostly Deathshipping here, spot the abridged reference ;) (there are a few floating around in the story actually.)**

**Disclaimer: Plot mine, Yugioh not mine. Running out of ways to say it. Enjoy!**

_Chapter 13- Call_

"Tell me something about yourself that nobody else knows," Ryou said as he gazed at Marik. He had woken up after a couple of hours sleep to find Marik still lying next to him, stroking his hair.

Marik chuckled softly at the question. "Um," he paused and thought for a moment. "I used to own a little pet bird back in Egypt. I called him Mr Tweetums and he was my only friend other than Malik. I talked to him all the time even though I knew he couldn't understand me… I cried for three days straight when he died. Nobody knows that, not even Malik."

"So you do have a softer side then," Ryou whispered in awe.

"I think that's pretty obvious," Marik laughed, indicating the position they were in. They were lying on top of Joey's bed with a blanket slung over them, their legs were entwined and they had their arms wrapped around each other. "So something about you that nobody else knows?" he asked.

"Um…" Ryou's eyebrows furrowed cutely as he thought. "Ok… I secretly love all things horror. I don't know what it is; just the thought of all the shadows and darkness really appeals to me, I feel like I could happily spend my life in the dark but I don't because there I think it would get lonely." He looked shyly up at Marik, "I probably sound really insane to you right now," he laughed nervously.

Marik thought for a moment. "You don't actually, I understand the appeal of wanting to shut yourself off from everything and hide in the dark. I used to do it in Egypt." His eyes got a far-away expression in them and Ryou was about to say something when they were interrupted by a loud ringing from the other side of the room.

The tall Egyptian growled at the noise and said, "If one of them has got themselves killed I am in no way helping to hide the body."

Ryou giggled slightly before disentangling his legs with Marik's and allowing him to stand and stomp over to where his phone lay in the pocket of his hoodie. He snatched it from where it lay and flipped it open.

"Malik," he grumbled before answering it. "What?"

"Marik, I need to ask you a huge favour," came his roommates voice from the other end, difficult to hear over the loud music in the background. Marik could only assume he was in a club.

"Whatever it is, no," he said, wandering back to the bed and putting Malik on speakerphone.

"You don't even know what it is yet!"

"Still no."

"Please listen, this is serious," Malik said, sounding slightly desperate.

Ryou was watching him with wide brown eyes so Marik decided to take pity on his wayward roommate. "Ok then, you have ten seconds to explain."

"Yugi is about to go wandering around the streets on his own looking for Yami who has just stormed out of here because he saw Yugi being molested by some girl who forced him into it, and now Yugi thinks Yami will never talk to him again because Yami likes Yugi and Yugi just realised how much Yami means to him. He's a mess and he needs to talk to Yami now- he won't have it any other way." Malik paused to breathe so Marik took the time to get a word in edgeways.

"And what do you want me to do about this?"

"Can you come and get him and take him back to Joey's, he'll be safe there and Yami will undoubtedly turn up there soon.

"No way, I'm comfy." This earned Marik a glare from Ryou.

"Please, Marik, it's just this once," Malik begged. "Nobody else is in a fit state to help him and he can't walk around on his own."

"You want me to leave Ryou here to drive into the great outdoors in the middle of the night to help a semi-drunk boy find another semi-drunk boy?" Marik asked. "No way in hell."

"Marik," someone said, but it wasn't coming from the phone. Ryou's voice was as threatening as he could make it. "Go and get Yugi."

"Ryou, is that you?" Malik's voice came from the other end of the line. "Get him to come here will you?"

Marik was glaring at Ryou, but the small Brit had a trump card, which he now used. Carefully, he pulled his face into the cutest, most pathetic expression he could manage and whispered, "Please do this, Marik. For me?" He added a lip-wobble for extra effect, and something in Marik snapped.

"Fine, I'll do it, Malik, but you owe me one you effeminate lilac-wearing git." As soon as he said this Ryou's face reverted back to its normal expression and he nuzzled happily into Marik's chest. He heard Malik laughing on the other end of the line.

"Ryou pulled the puppy-eyes trick didn't he?" he asked.

Marik merely grunted in reply; he didn't want it getting out that he had actually found something cute. "Where am I going?" he asked to cover up his slight embarrassment.

"Devil's Lotus, text when you're outside?" Malik asked.

"You owe me so bloody much," Marik said. "I will not be doing this again." He hung up and put his arms around Ryou. "Shouldn't have put him on speaker should I?" he asked.

Ryou merely laughed before giving him a quick kiss. "Nope," he whispered. "Now go on."

"But I have so many reasons to stay," Marik whined.

"If you do this, I'll reward you," Ryou whispered sneakily and it took most of Marik's willpower not to forget Yugi completely and jump on his little Brit. Instead, he allowed his mind to stray to… inappropriate places and slowly got off the bed.

"There's a good boy," Ryou snickered slightly. "Big rewards for you."

Once again Marik had to struggle not to throw himself back onto the bed and kiss Ryou senseless. But being Marik, he restrained himself and settled for winking at the teen instead.

"I'll be back soon," he said, "Hopefully without too much drama." And with that he left the room, leaving Ryou extremely satisfied but already missing his warmth.

Who would have thought tonight would have turned out like this? Marik had always portrayed a tough exterior and everybody seemed to be too scared to try and find out what was underneath. But earlier Ryou had seen that the intimidating Egyptian was capable of kindness: he had wanted to help Malik, albeit in a roundabout way, and he had comforted Ryou when he had accidentally upset Malik.

At school Marik was known as the one you didn't cross for fear of being beaten up, but he had never wronged Ryou in any way, or anyone he really cared about. As Ryou was a firm believer in there being two sides to every story, he hoped that after the events of tonight he would be able to coax out the more gentle side of Marik and begin to understand him more. Tonight he had already seen him in a way he doubted anyone else ever had- he had been gentle and calm and certainly not threatening.

He turned over under the blanket and pressed his face into the pillow, smiling. It smelt of his Egyptian. Ryou's grin widened. He was already thinking of Marik as 'his Egyptian', and he rather liked the sound of it. He heard the engine of the motorbike roar to life outside and speed off towards the centre of town. Now all Ryou had to do was wait until it returned.


	14. Security

**And back to Corp. Oh I do love writing drunk characters, it's just too fun. Anyway, a little appearance of another awesome character coming up, hope you like it! Reviews are love!**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Yugioh, there would be a lot more on-screen thiefshipping if I did ^^ Enjoy!**

_Chapter 14- Security_

"Yo! More shots!" a voice shouted, slightly slurred. Atem sighed. This was going to be the eighth round of shots this guy and his friends had taken. He did hope they wouldn't make a mess. As he walked over to the group he glanced at his watch: 11:30pm. That meant he still had a couple of hours before his shift ended. As he began pouring yet more alcohol into the glasses on the bar he heard a huge metallic creak from the other side of the club and looked up in time to see Tristan jumping off a huge speaker that was falling to the floor. Tristan threw himself towards Duke, who attempted to catch him but failed, both of them landing on the floor at the same time as the speaker crashed to Earth.

There was an interesting moment as the dancing mass of people paused and turned, trying to work out why the music had stopped coming from that direction, before most of them laughed it off and continued dancing. The rest seemed to be still trying to work out what had happened or were shuffling away from the fallen speaker.

"Shit," Atem muttered. "Ara, can you take over my half too for a sec, I've got to sort those two out," he asked the brown-haired girl who was working with him.

"Sure," she said. "Just call security to kick them out if they won't go quietly, it's 'Kef working tonight so there'll be no trouble."

Atem raised an eyebrow slightly before saying, "Since when were you two on a nickname basis?"

Ara grinned mischievously and said, "That would be telling," before getting to work on the shots. Atem shrugged and pulled out a small radio as he headed towards the mess on the other side of the club. "Touzoku, you're up. Got a couple of rather drunk guys who are notorious for not leaving when told so might need persuading."

"Be right there," a smooth voice came from the other end of the radio before it disconnected. Atem pocketed the radio as he reached the place where Tristan and Duke had fallen. They both looked rather dazed and seemed to be struggling to move.

"What the hell are you guys playing at?" Atem began angrily, but he soon realised this was a bad move.

Apparently remembering how to move, Tristan stood and glared at Yami's cousin. "You don't own me!" he shouted in Atem's face. "You can't tell me what to do!"

Atem backed away subtly before saying, "Are you aware you just destroyed a rather expensive piece of technology? "and attempting to hide his annoyance. "And are you also forgetting that this isn't the first time this has happened?"

"What are you talking about?" Tristan slurred angrily. "Never done nothing in my life!"

At this point Duke regained the ability to speak, and said from the floor, "I think he's talking about time you flipped that table, dude."

"That wasn't my fault!" Tristan drunkenly yelled, so loudly that a few people were starting to stare. "And now you're here to try and stop me from having my fun," he said, pointing his finger accusingly at Atem. Tristan started towards the shorter male and pulled his arm back as though about to hit him. Atem raised his hands as a shield but as Tristan swung his arm haphazardly forwards it was caught by a much larger, ring-wearing hand.

"Do we have a problem here?" a voice purred from next to Atem, who let out a small sigh of relief. Everything was under control.

The hand disappeared from Atem's vision and Tristan stumbled back blearily, trying to focus on the newcomer whilst putting as much distance between them as possible.

Akefia Touzoku could be very intimidating when he wanted to be.

"I'll take that as a no," he said to Tristan, who certainly seemed intimidated.

"Come on, let's go before you break something else," Duke said, struggling to his feet.

"You're very glad I'm in a good mood so won't physically throw you out," Akefia remarked. "If you go quietly there'll be no trouble."

Tristan's saturated mind was wondering whether it was a good idea to pick a fight with the six foot, muscular security man, but wisely decided against it, instead choosing to grab Duke and attempt to locate the exit. Whilst he was doing this seemingly difficult task, two more people arrived on the scene.

"And why exactly have you two attempted to destroy my club?" Seto asked dangerously. The effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that he had lost a couple of buttons on his shirt and his hair was as more messed up than it had ever been. Joey looked even worse for wear; half his shirt was still hanging open, showing a purple bruise forming on his skin, and he appeared to be having trouble walking. However they both looked happier than they had been in a long time and were holding hands; it was pretty clear what they had been up to.

"It was an accident," Duke said hurriedly. "And we're just about to leave," he added, throwing a glance at Akefia.

"Fair enough," Kaiba replied, and everyone stared at him.

"W-what?" Tristan asked, amazed that he wasn't being shouted at.

"I said fair enough," the CEO repeated. "That means you can go back to Joey's and I don't envy the headaches you will have in the morning. I have a feeling you won't even remember what is happening right now so I'm letting you go and we'll say no more of it."

Duke and Tristan stared for a little longer before realising he wasn't joking and left, bumping into people as they went.

Once they were out of sight, Joey turned to Seto. "Why did you do that?" he asked. "Normally you would yell at them and make them pay for it."

"Yes, but I'm in a very good mood at the moment," Seto whispered so the other two couldn't hear him. "And I wouldn't want to put a dampener on your night by putting your friends in debt."

Atem and Akefia watched the exchange with interest. Finally, Akefia cleared his throat. "Um, boss, do you want me to move the speaker out of the way?"

Kaiba threw the speaker a glance. "Might be a good idea," he said. "I'll send through the money to replace it by the end of the week." Akefia nodded and left to sort out the wrecked technology.

"I should probably get back to work," Atem said, and Seto nodded. "Are you going now?" Atem asked before he left.

"Yes, we're going to try and find the rest of our group," Joey said. "We've had more than enough excitement for the night."

Atem laughed. "So I see." Then he quickly headed back to the bar before Ara got behind on orders, tossing a wave behind him.

"Shall we go?" Seto asked once he was out of sight. Joey nodded eagerly and together they headed towards the exit, passing Akefia on the way, who nodded.

"Who's that?" Joey asked as they headed down the hallway. "The white haired guy?"

"That's Touzoku, he's the best security guard in this club," the taller teen explained.

"Never seen him before," Joey remarked.

"He only started working here a few weeks ago, Ara, the girl behind the bar, got him the job. Don't really know much about him to be honest," Kaiba continued. "Actually I don't know much about either of them, just that they're good at their jobs."

"Fair enough," Joey said as they reached the door that led onto the street. As they opened it they saw the bouncer Kaiba had intimidated earlier. He had the decency to turn away as they passed and muttered, "Have a good night, Sir."

As they began the short walk to Devil's Lotus Joey said, "I hope Duke and Tristan get home ok."

Seto let out a small snort. "They'll be fine. I think people will be trying to avoid them, not pick a fight with them."

"If you say so," Joey said, but he didn't look convinced. As they were about to turn the corner to the entrance of the club, the CEO grabbed his arm and pulled out a pen.

"Hey, what are you going to do with that?" the blonde exclaimed, but before he could do anything else Kaiba had taken the lid off and drawn a symbol on the back of his hand. After doing the same to his own hand he put the pen away and said, "Some idiot forgot his ID."

Joey looked at him sheepishly before they turned the corner and headed up to the entrance.

"That idiot would be me, wouldn't it," he asked.

Seto smiled down at him. Not a smirk like usual, but an actual smile. "Yes, that idiot would be you, Joey."


	15. Disaster

**I must say this was a rather interesting chapter to write, I regret nothing!**

**Disclaimer: Nothing but the plot is mine, enjoy! :D**

_Chapter 15- Disaster_

Yugi only had to wait fifteen minutes before Malik's phone buzzed signalling that his ride was here. It had been an interesting fifteen minutes to say the least, with Bakura and Malik looking like all they wanted to do was jump on each other but restraining themselves because of Yugi's presence. Instead they had settled for checking each other out when they thought he wasn't looking, and it was with great relief that Yugi was finally able to leave the alcove and head down to the ground floor.

As he passed through the dancing crowd he felt slightly claustrophobic now Yami wasn't at his side, and he realised how much he actually relied on his friend. Yugi finally broke through the mass of people and made it to the door. He was about to leave when a voice called his name.

"Joey?" Sure enough, his blonde friend and Kaiba were heading in the opposite direction into the club.

"Yep," Joey grinned, but it faded when he saw Yugi's face. "Yug' are you alright? Your face looks a little red…"

"I'm fine, I just have to find Yami," the smaller boy said hurriedly, before turning and running out into the night. Joey was about to follow, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Leave him, he'll be fine. The others wouldn't let him leave without a good reason."

After a small internal struggle, Joey nodded and they continued into the club. Meanwhile, Yugi had headed round the corner to see a rather grumpy-looking Marik astride his motorcycle, being stared at by a group of giggling girls across the street.

"About time," he growled as a greeting, before handing Yugi a helmet. As Yugi struggled to fit it on over his hair Marik's expression softened a bit. "You ok?" he muttered, and Yugi could only shrug slightly.

"I didn't see Yami on the way here but that doesn't mean we won't see him on the way back," Marik continued as Yugi was still struggling with the helmet. The tall Egyptian waited for about three more seconds before his patience ran out and he got off his bike to help. Once Yugi's headwear was secure, he turned to look at Marik.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "I know you didn't really want to do this but thanks anyway."

"Don't worry about it," said Marik awkwardly, not used to being nice. "Thank Ryou actually, he persuaded me."

"So, are you two a thing then?" Yugi asked cautiously as Marik got on the bike, and he caught a small smile flash across the usually expressionless face.

"Something like that," came the reply. "Come on then."

Yugi clambered onto the bike, somewhat awkwardly as he still had a lot of alcohol in his system. The motorbike didn't feel too safe but he knew Marik was a good driver, so he was willing to trust him this once.

"Hold on," Marik warned as he revved the engine. Yugi barely had time to wrap his arms around Marik's waist before they roared off down the street towards Joey's.

Yugi panicked for a moment as he realised for the first time what was actually happening. It was nearly midnight, he was semi-drunk, clinging to someone who scared him on an unstable death machine and he had no idea if the most important person in the world to him would even speak to him again. Being the youngest person in the group he usually had someone with him willing to help him when he got into bad situations, usually Joey or Yami, but right now the only person near him was Marik, and Yugi doubted he really fancied a heart to heart with him right now.

He kept his eyes open for any sign of Yami, but his efforts were fruitless until they were only a couple of streets away from the safety of Joey's house. The moment Yugi saw Yami sitting on the pavement up ahead he forgot that he was moving on a high speed bike. He forgot that he had no support other than Marik. He forgot about anything other than the tri-coloured teen ahead of him.

"Yami!" he yelled, and took an arm away from Marik's waist to wave, blocking Marik's vision. It all happened in an instant. Yugi's shout had disorientated Marik, and then his waving hand had been right in Marik's face, oblivious to the problem. Marik, unable to see, had sworn and taken a hand off the handlebars of the bike to push Yugi's hand away just as they hit a bump in the road. One-handed, Marik was unable to control the motorbike and it swerved, hitting the kerb and throwing both riders from it as it flipped over.

Yugi let out a terrified shriek as he felt himself fly through the air as though in slow motion. He heard Marik hit the pavement with a loud smack behind him an instant before he collided with the ground himself, pain shooting up the side of his left arm and leg. His vision swam and he was dimly aware that he had hit his head too, the helmet absorbing most of the impact. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear the spots that were floating around him, blocking out the lights from the streetlamps. He heard Marik groan in pain a few feet away.

Yami, who had looked up when he heard his name being called, was stood still in shock as he saw the two hit the ground. It took him a couple of seconds for the reality of the situation to hit him and then he was running. "Yugi!" he yelled. "Yugi!"

He made it to the small boy's side in time to see his eyes flutter as he struggled to remain conscious.

"Yami…" he whispered. "I…" His eyes closed as he lost consciousness.

Yami swore as he pulled his phone out and went to check on Marik, who was struggling to move.

"Marik, stay where you are, you might have broken something," Yami said as he dialled the emergency services. "You might also have a concussion, I'm calling an ambulance." Marik groaned something in response but Yami was already talking into the phone.

Marik had to lay there immobile, trying to ignore the throbbing in the side of his head. Eventually, Yami finished the phone call and Marik could finally say the word he had groaned before. "Ryou…"

Yami understood straight away, and sent a quick text on his phone. "He'll be here soon, Marik," he said, before turning back to Yugi.

So many thoughts were going round his head, as they had been for the last half an hour as he had wandered around aimlessly, trying to clear his head. Why was Yugi on the bike in the first place? Was he coming to find him? What had he been about to say before he lost consciousness?

No more than two minutes later Ryou came running up the street towards them. Almost completely ignoring the two tri-coloured teens he went straight to Marik's side and knelt down next to him.

"Ryou…" he said weakly, trying to sit up. "I think I broke the pavement with my head…"

The small Brit tried to hold in a semi-hysterical laugh and instead ended up crying. "You need to stay down, Marik. There's blood coming from your head, I think you're going to have to go to hospital for this."

Marik gingerly felt the side of his head and hissed at the pain there. "I hate hospitals," he complained half-heartedly.

"What were you doing without a helmet?"

"Gave it to him." Marik gestured weakly to where Yugi lay, head now cradled in Yami's lap. Yami appeared to be speaking to him, even though the smaller boy probably couldn't hear him. "Good thing too, don't think he would have survived otherwise."

Ryou looked a little stunned for a moment before laughing quietly. "Well what do you know, Marik Ishtar has a kind heart after all!"

"Shush, you're going to ruin my reputation you know."

"I would tell you to make me shush but you're in no fit state to do so," Ryou said with a slight tone of disappointment.

"Hey, Ry?"

"Yes, Marik?"

"Do I still get my reward for fetching Yugi?"

Ryou laughed loudly this time. "Even with your head bashed in you still have a one track mind!"

Marik smiled weakly, and at that moment the ambulance arrived. For a few minutes everything was a blur of medical technology and people everywhere, until finally the four of them were on their way to A&E in the back of an ambulance, Yami still cradling Yugi and Marik laid on Ryou.

This wasn't how they had intended tonight to go, but it was certainly an interesting experience.


	16. Acid

**Even more shippings! There are only a couple more chapters now, this is the last one that takes place in a club. I have to say this was a very fun chapter to write, hope you enjoy.**

**naynaynaynay: Thank you! It was actually in the plot from the beginning :P**

**Angel7109: Don't worry, with the power of writing I'll make it all better :D And don't worry about it, your reviews still make me happy and I'm glad you take the time to give feedback **

**Disclaimer: Stop asking me if I own Yugioh, I still don't **

**Enjoy, dear reader!**

_Chapter 16- Acid_

Bakura and Malik were just about to go and dance when Bakura received the message from Ryou.

"_Yugi and Marik in accident, on way to hospital, no need to come back now but let me know when you're back at Joey's."_

Malik, who had read the text over Bakura's shoulder, let out a curse and put his head in his hands.

"I can't seem to do anything right today," he moaned. "First Yami and now this!"

Bakura quickly texted a reply before putting his arm around his sniffling boyfriend. "I'm sure they'll be fine," he said as consolingly as he could manage. "It won't be that bad if Ryou doesn't want us home."

"But this isn't how tonight was supposed to go," Malik cried loudly, partly due to frustration and partly because of the empty pitcher on the table in front of him. "It was supposed to be fun for everyone and now two of us have ended up hospitalised and we have no idea where Yami is."

It was at this moment that two familiar faces appeared at the door of their alcove.

"You ok, Malik?" Joey asked, making them both jump. Behind him stood Kaiba, holding a couple of glasses and looking more untidy than they had ever seen him. He had managed to fix his hair a bit but there were still buttons missing on his shirt.

"Yugi and Marik have gone to hospital and it's my fault!" Malik wailed before the pair could even move into the space.

"What?" Joey yelped. "What happened?"

Malik eventually managed to explain the story to Joey and Seto, which ended with him turning and sobbing into Bakura's shoulder.

After a few seconds Joey managed to say, "It's not your fault Malik, you did what you thought was right and nobody can criticize you for that. I'm sure they'll be fine." Malik didn't look convinced. "Look, we can call them in an hour or so if you like, see how they're doing." At this, Malik nodded.

"Ok then, let's enjoy what we have then," he said, sniffing slightly.

"That's the spirit," Joey said. "Now down this and go have some fun!" He shoved a couple of glasses towards the Egyptian, who downed them without question. Joey then turned to his brunette partner. "Now I think you and I need to go and do some dancing." Bakura and Malik expected the tall CEO to shoot him down in flames instantly, but were surprised when Kaiba simply chuckled and said, "I'm surprised you can even walk, never mind dance." Then they got up and left, presumably to go join the crowd on the ground floor.

There was a moment of silence before Malik, who seemed to have been in deep thought, tapped his boyfriend on the shoulder.

"I'm going to go down to the bar now and have a few drinks. When I come back up I want you to go along with what I do and whatever you do, don't stop."

Bakura raised one eyebrow perfectly before smirking and saying, "Well that depends on what it is you're thinking of."

"Use your imagination," the Egyptian replied, before standing and leaving.

The Brit whistled after he was out of sight. Well he certainly hadn't expected things to go this far so fast, not that he was complaining of course. He cursed himself for not having been more forward and less in denial before this- Malik could have been his long ago. He knew pride was a weakness of his, and he had a feeling he was about to throw it all away.

He sat there on his own for about ten minutes, listening to the music drifting up to him and imagining what Malik could possibly be thinking that required even more alcohol for him to carry out. Eventually the blonde reappeared at the entrance, looking a little less sober than before and hiding something behind his back.

"So, Bakura…" he smirked as he advanced. The Brit's mouth went dry at the tone in his voice. "Are you ready?" Bakura certainly was.

Meanwhile, Joey and Kaiba were a couple of floors down, dancing, and completely oblivious to what was going on upstairs. The current song was 'Poker Face' by Lady Gaga, and this seemed to amuse Joey greatly.

"You have a great poker face you know," he shouted to Seto as they danced to the chorus. "I had no idea you even had feelings, never mind that they were directed at me."

"Now, Wheeler, that's a little harsh isn't it? I am just good at hiding emotions," the brunette replied with a smile.

"Exactly! Poker Face!"

Joey was once again out of it, Kaiba thought. Not that he hadn't brought it upon himself, choosing to have the party in the first place, then getting everyone out clubbing, it was an accident waiting to happen. Still, Kaiba felt he hadn't made a mistake by turning up on Joey's doorstep a few hours ago. At first he had only intended to stay an hour or so, but he had slowly come to realise that the company of the others wasn't so bad after all, and he had somehow ended up staying. Not that he minded of course. Not at all.

"What are you grinning at?" Joey questioned as they continued to dance into the second verse.

"Nothing at all," Seto replied, before grabbing the blonde and pulling him close. "Nothing at all…"

They danced for another hour or so before it became too hot and tiring for them to continue. As they walked upstairs 'SexyBack' by Justin Timberlake came on and Kaiba smirked. "I believe this is your… Jam?" he asked Joey, not used to slang.

"Damn right it is!" came the reply. "My jam it is. My head hurts."

"I'll go and get a couple of drinks and meet you up there then," Kaiba said. "Soft drinks though, if they've even heard of them here."

"Okie dokie," Joey replied happily. "See you in a bit!"

The blonde headed slowly up the second set of stairs and towards their little hideaway. As his head was down when he brushed the curtain aside, he was already inside before he realised what he had walked into.

"Oh my god guys, put some clothes on!" he yelled before slapping a hand over his eyes and reversing as fast as he could. Drunk or not, he knew that image of Malik and Bakura was going to be burned on his brain for the rest of his life. He heard giggling coming from behind the curtain and shouted, "Why would you do that there? Anyone could have walked in!" The volume of the giggling only increased.

Joey didn't dare open his eyes, but stood there with his hand over them until Bakura's voice said, "It's ok now, you're clear."

Joey tentatively entered the alcove again to find Malik and Bakura mostly dressed and not laying on each other, thank god. "Thanks for that, I need to go and wash my eyes with acid now. Is there anywhere safe to sit?"

Malik pointed to the other side of the seat and struggled not to laugh again. "You guys are sick…" Joey said faintly.

"Well what about you and Kaiba, huh?" Bakura remarked. "Pretty sure we're not the only un-innocent ones around here."

"That's not even a word!" Joey retorted, trying to hide the fact that he was blushing.

"Never would have seen that coming," Malik said with interest. "What was it like?"

"That's none of your business," a voice came from the doorway, and a second later Kaiba entered carrying a couple of soft drinks. "Unless you wish to tell us how it went with you of course." He smoothly sat down next to Joey and raised an eyebrow.

"Please don't," the blonde said. "My eyes are already damaged; please leave my ears out of it."

"Not to mention that's kind of gross dude," Bakura said from the other side of the seat. "You just don't talk about things like that."

Kaiba nodded. "I know. Just wondered how drunk you are. You seem to have sobered up a little actually."

Malik nodded proudly. "Yep, that we have! We are totally sober now!"

"On second thoughts…" Seto muttered, before shrugging and taking a gulp from his drink.

"Do you think I should check on Yugi now?" Joey asked, and he received a couple of nods. He pulled out his phone and dialled his best friend's number. Someone picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Yami? Everything ok over there?"

"Hey Joey. Yeah, I'm at the hospital now, it looks like they're going to be let out soon though."

"How are they?"

There was a pause. "Yugi's fine, he regained consciousness fairly quickly and he seems fine now. Marik has a mild concussion but they were both lucky. Ryou's here with Marik and I…" There was a longer pause. "I'm going to talk to Yugi in a minute."

Joey breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear. Do you want to bring them back to mine? After all they were originally going to stay over."

"I'll see what they think," Yami said. "Oh, looks like they're being let out, I have to go."

"One second," Joey said quickly. "Don't worry about talking to Yugi, he was going to find you because there was a misunderstanding and he realised something very important along the way."

There was silence on the other end of the line as Yami processed this, and then he said, "Thanks Joey, I'll see you back at your house later."

Joey hung up and looked around at the others. "They're both going to be fine. They're being let out now so I suggest we finish up here and head back to mine to meet them."

"Sounds good," Malik said, and Bakura nodded in agreement.

Kaiba looked at his watch. "It's 1am, we should probably try and get a taxi instead of walking at this time of night."

"Fair enough," Joey said, and they downed their drinks before standing to leave.

As they passed through the crowds of people still partying Joey couldn't help but notice Bakura was having some trouble walking. He tapped the Brit on the shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Bakura asked as they began to descend the final set of stairs.

"Never took you for being on bottom," Joey smirked. "He must have been really persuasive."

Bakura turned bright red in anger and embarrassment and seemed about ready to colour the air with curses before Joey quickly intervened. "Hey, no worries, I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to pay him back for it."

"Damn right I will," Bakura growled, curses forgotten for the moment.

"I have some painkillers at home you can take later," Joey said discreetly. Bakura didn't bother to reply to that one.


	17. Together

**So here we have it, the last chapter. There is a little epilogue still to come, but this is the last main chapter. And the longest, ironically.**

**Guest Reviewer: Yes, 'it' :P**

**Disclaimer: I haven't owned anything for the whole story **

**I hope you, lovely reader, enjoy the last chapter of Night in the Life.**

_Chapter 17- Together_

It was 1.30am by the time the ambulance dropped them off outside Joey's house. Ryou got out first, struggling to stop Marik from getting out too quickly as he was still quite dizzy and prone to falling over. They were followed by Yugi and Yami, who were determinedly not making eye contact or speaking to each other. As the vehicle drove off again Marik began complaining.

"Come on, can we go inside already, I want a shower. I hate the smell of hospital."

Ryou sighed before making his way up the steps and unlocking the door with the key he had snatched up just before he had dashed out earlier. A loud blast of music greeted them as they hadn't bothered to turn it off, as well as the smell of alcohol from the kitchen and living room. Yugi crossed the threshold behind them and was nearly sick at the smell.

"Too much, never again," he said faintly before heading towards the downstairs bathroom.

Yami hesitated before following him. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Yugi at the hospital and the ride home had been filled with paperwork and Marik's moaning, so no chance there either. Yugi seemed to be ignoring him too, which wasn't a good sign.

As he headed down the hall behind Yugi the music was turned off and he heard Marik complaining again.

"Ry, I need a shower! Right now!"

"The last thing you need to do is stand in a small space with hard walls around you when you could fall." That was Ryou's gentle but firm voice. He had obviously got over the alcohol a while ago if he was rational again.

"Please? I hate hospitals," Marik whimpered before lowering his voice, but not enough so Yami couldn't still hear him. "And I wouldn't fall over if you were with me in the shower."

Yami went crimson as he heard Ryou exclaim ("One track mind!") and he hurried away before he overheard anything else. A few seconds later he was outside the door of the bathroom. He took a deep breath before knocking quietly.

"Yugi? Are you ok in there?"

There were a few seconds of silence and he was about to knock again when suddenly the door opened and Yugi came rushing out and flung his arms around him. Yami stumbled backwards as his arms went around the smaller boy and he somehow managed to keep them upright. After a second he realised Yugi was crying onto his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Yami!" the small boy sobbed. "I couldn't do anything about it, she grabbed me in the club and dragged me off with her. And Bakura told me how you ran away when you saw and I just felt so awful because I hurt you and that's the last thing I want to do, ever!" Yugi was verging on hysteria and Yami could barely make out what he was saying at this point. Yugi continued regardless. "I realised I had to find you and tell you what really happened because I didn't want you thinking I liked someone else because-" He stopped dead, realising what he was about to say. If he said this there would be no going back.

Yugi looked straight into his best friends eyes and said, "Because the only person I like is you."

Time seemed to stop for them. Yugi was trying to fathom Yami's reaction to his confession, and the taller boy was simply absorbing the words. Joey had been right- his feelings were reciprocated. Eventually the silence became too much for Yugi to bear, and he buried his head in Yami's shoulder, willing him to say something. His heart shattered when he heard Yami chuckling, and he tried to pull away but couldn't.

"We're a right pair aren't we?" Yami asked, gazing at Yugi.

"W-what?" Yugi stopped trying to move away and instead focussed on Yami's expression. He was smiling instead of smirking as Yugi had expected.

"For a while now the only person I've liked is you," Yami said quietly. "And neither of us had any clue."

"Well, you hid it very well," Yugi said sheepishly. "I had no idea…" He would have said more but Yami stopped him be tentatively pressing their lips together. Yugi's eyes went as wide as a baby panda's before they slowly closed and he wrapped his arms tighter around the taller boy's neck, deepening the kiss. They got so lost in each other that they didn't hear Ryou and Marik knocking things over and giggling upstairs, they didn't hear the knocks at the front door and they didn't hear voices coming down the hall much later after the knocking had ceased.

It wasn't until Joey rounded the corner saying something over his shoulder that the two finally realised they had company. Joey stopped dead as the two tri-coloured teens sprang apart guiltily, before giving them a knowing smile and turning back down the hall.

"Everything's fine guys, they're in here," he shouted to whoever else was there.

"Are they together?" That was Malik's voice.

Joey gave them a quick glance before smiling and saying, "Definitely."

"Can I see?" That sounded like Tristan, which made so much sense as he still sounded drunk and, well, it was Tristan.

"Hey, go and sit down. You too, dice-boy." Neither Yami nor Yugi recognised that voice.

"Joey, are there strangers in your house?" Yugi stage-whispered to said blonde.

"Not exactly… They're sort of mutual friends," Joey replied. "Come and meet them- if you can bear to leave each other for two seconds that is," he continued, grinning.

Yugi blushed as Yami put an arm around his waist and guided him towards the living room. The room was full of people, but the first two they saw were Duke and Tristan, who were both sat on the same sofa they had occupied a few hours ago, looking even worse than they had at the beginning of the night. On seeing them Duke whistled at the two boys before falling off the sofa and faceplanting the carpet, unconscious, causing Tristan to giggle at his friend before doing almost the exact same thing.

There was a collective sigh in the room.

In the short silence that followed Yami scanned the people present to see if everyone had made it back. There was Kaiba stood next to Joey, Malik was sat on Bakura in the armchair and he knew Ryou and Marik were upstairs. There was a tall guy with white hair and a girl with brown hair he didn't know- those must have been the mutual friends Joey has spoken about. And there coming through the kitchen door was-

"Atem?"

His cousin smiled at him before saying, "Should have known you would be here, Yami. How's life?"

Yami shrugged. "It's 2am, there are people passed out on the sofa and I just got a boyfriend. So not bad. What are you doing here?"

Atem, who Yami could now see was carrying a large jug, went around the room pouring glasses of water as he answered.

"My shift finished half an hour ago and when I got out those two-" He jerked his head towards Tristan and Duke, "-were panicking that they couldn't find their way home, so I took pity on them as I know where Joey lives."

"Hey, are you forgetting who did the heavy lifting?" joked the man who Yami didn't know. "I'm the one who had to carry them most of the way home."

"I, of course, did nothing either," said the brown-haired girl in a mock-serious tone.

Atem laughed. "For those of you who don't know, this is Akefia and Ara, colleagues of mine at Corp. They helped too, as you can guess."

"Security," Akefia supplied.

"Bartender," Ara added, smiling. "We finished our shifts at the same time as Atem so decided to lend a hand with those two. They got into all kinds of trouble in the club earlier so we didn't want them terrorising old ladies or something."

"Except when we got here nobody answered the door so we had to wait until everyone else showed up to let us in," Akefia continued. "Must say it was a bit of a shock to see you here, sir." This last bit was directed at Kaiba, who shrugged and said, "No more than for me seeing three of my employees on the doorstep."

Akefia was about to reply when the door banged open and Ryou ran in breathlessly, laughing. He stopped dead in the room as all eyes turned to him and he was promptly mowed over by Marik, who had charged into the room after him. It took a few seconds for them to disentangle themselves and stand up.

"Um," Ryou said shyly. "Hi everyone. We were just-"

"Marik, have you been molesting my housemate?" Bakura interrupted from the chair. "What did I tell you about that?"

"Can't remember," Marik grinned, and he put his arms around Ryou. "Don't care either."

Bakura growled slightly before turning to Ryou himself. "You ok with this?"

His small housemate nodded happily, his own grin spreading across his face. Bakura could only shrug. "Guess it's only fair," he muttered to Malik. "I did steal you after all."

"Oh I think it was the other way round, wasn't it?" came Malik's reply, causing Bakura to redden again.

"Be quiet."

"Make me."

"I will."

"Go on then."

Bakura stood up, carrying Malik with him, and said, "We're off to bed guys, long night and all. You don't mind if we use your room do you, Joey?"

Joey shook his head- as though he had a choice. They all watched the strange pair exit the room before Yugi spoke up. "I think me and Yami will be turning in too, we've got quite a bit to talk about," he said, blushing slightly.

"Ok guys, you can have any room you want, they all lock," Joey replied, with only the trace of a smirk on his face. "That goes for you two as well," he said, nodding to Ryou and Marik, who grinned at each other mischievously.

After another round of goodnights the four left to go to their rooms. This only left Joey, Kaiba, Akefia, Ara and Atem- and Duke and Tristan but they didn't seem to count at the moment.

"Well we should probably be off," Akefia said after stretching and yawning. "I have an early start in the morning again."

"I would hardly count 11am as being an early start," Ara laughed from beside him. "Would it kill you to get up at the same time as normal people for a change?"

"Did you just call yourself normal?"

"Of course not, normality is overrated!"

"Whatever."

"Come on," Atem said. "I'm sure Joey and Kaiba want to get to bed."

"They're not the only ones," Ara said. "Come on, 'Kef. Nice meeting you, Joey!"

"Bye, boss," Akefia said as they left, and Atem waved. When the front door had closed behind them Joey collapsed on the other couch.

"What a night," he said to Seto. "I never want so much drama again!"

"You call that drama?" the brunette asked, sitting next to him. "Try owning a company someday."

"I'd rather not," Joey laughed, moving to lay on the CEO. "I suppose we should stay down here to keep an eye on those two."

Kaiba looked over Tristan and Duke, who were still face-first in carpet. "I suppose. It doesn't matter though, I'm guessing the other rooms are taken."

Joey nodded sleepily before pulling a blanket over them and curling up. Somewhere above them, Yami and Yugi were talking, Ryou was teasing Marik, and Bakura was repaying Malik. Somehow, all was right with the world.


	18. Epilogue- Morning

**Well here it is, the last ever chapter of Night in the Life. If you're reading this author's note I want to thank you for taking the time to read the story and I hope you've enjoyed it. Thanks to my reviewers especially, and if you've not reviewed I would love to get feedback, I even accept anon reviews if you're too lazy to log in :P I'm thinking of doing a couple of stories related to this one, perhaps the *cough* M rated scenes *cough* or a post-plot story or two. Let me know what you think!**

****EDIT: I have a poll on my profile page concerning this story, come and vote!****

**Anyway, enough stuff from me, here's the epilogue and last chapter of Night in the Life!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own, have never owned, and (probably) never will own YuGiOh.**

**Enjoy!**

_**DustyStars**_

_Epilogue- Morning_

It was just another average day in the city of Domino. The sun was shining through a veil of light clouds and everyone was going about their daily business as usual. It was just an average Saturday. Or at least it would have been an average Saturday had a certain group of boys not woken with varying degrees of hangover, some that were definitely not average.

It was going on lunch time before they were all awake and in the kitchen, gulping down painkillers and grinning sheepishly at each other, remembering the events of last night.

Yami and Yugi were the most tired- they had not gone to sleep until the sun had risen. Now they seemed so much more comfortable with each other; they had spoken at great length about how they were going to go about their newfound relationship and the happiness on their faces was clear to see. Yami had been pleased to find that Yugi had liked him for a long period of time, but due to his shy nature he would never have dreamed of saying anything first. The smaller boy had quite an inferiority complex- he had been firmly convinced of his best friend's indifference towards him. Now they were stood in the corner, arms around each other holding coffee and smiling.

Joey and Kaiba- who had been the first to get up- were also happy. They had no idea what would happen between them, but neither seemed in a hurry to explore it so they left it at that. They were sorting food for people together- every now and then their hands would brush together and Joey would blush and Kaiba would smile slightly. It was a tentative thing they had- so much was in the way that they had no idea where to start. Only time would tell whether this was the start of something more long term or not.

Ryou and Marik seemed happy with their current state too- they had spent most of the night playing Would You Rather and Twenty Truths, exploring each other's way of thinking and getting to know each other. Ryou had uncovered more of that gentler side he loved and Marik had found some more secrets Ryou felt necessary to keep. Somehow, over the course of a night, they had managed to forge a bond of trust that would not easily be broken. Marik had seated himself on the kitchen counter and pulled Ryou up to sit on his lap, where they were sharing some toast.

Malik and Bakura were the last to stumble downstairs, clutching their heads and heading straight for the painkillers. Miraculously they could recall all the events of last night, and for that they were glad. Neither of them wanted to forget the night they had finally realised their feelings for each other- and everything that had followed. Bakura still had his cold exterior and sarcastic attitude, but Malik was always there with a comeback and never took it to heart. They were far from perfect but it didn't bother either of them. They had time to work on it. After taking the maximum dose of painkillers they headed over to the counter to join their housemates for breakfast and an interesting conversation.

Duke and Tristan woke sprawled on the floor with blank minds and no idea what was going on. As they blearily entered the kitchen Joey threw some painkillers at them and Ryou jumped off of Marik's lap to fetch them glasses of water. With the help of everyone else, they slowly pieced together the events of the night before and had the decency to hang their heads in shame before shuffling towards the toaster. They were aware they probably wouldn't be on the highest of people's esteems at the moment.

If you were to look through the kitchen window at that time, you would see a large group of friends chatting and laughing with each other, perfectly at ease. You wouldn't instantly see the relationships that had formed overnight. You would perhaps miss the subtle glances the blonde by the sink cast at the tall brunette beside him. You would overlook the closeness of the group of two platinum blondes and two whitettes over by the counter as they made living arrangements. You might not even notice the two similar looking boys in the corner with crazy hair stood closer together than normal friends would. You would, however, be unable to miss the looks of utter confusion on the faces of the two remaining boys in the room as they tried to work the toaster. Some things never changed.

After a while one voice cut over the rest. The blonde boy by the sink had turned to address everyone in the room. "So guys," he said, barely able to keep the smile off his face. "Same thing next week?"

_Fin_


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